


The Earth's Off its Axis

by MindlesslyDreaming13



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dramedy, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Humor, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2019-08-25 20:58:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16668184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MindlesslyDreaming13/pseuds/MindlesslyDreaming13
Summary: Everything was wonderful in Stars Hollow, except one little problem. Two friends (finally!) crossed the line and now must deal with the consequences.  LL with a hint of Lit! Set in season 3 before Lorelai Out of Water. There is no Nicole, but Lorelai has met Alex (just to keep things interesting). Posted on fanfic as well; however, this version has been slightly revamped in terms of writing.





	1. Chapter 1

** Chapter 1- We Party Like it was 1999 **

          It was a happy day in Stars Hollow. The sun was up and the grass was greenish which was rare considering it was winter. Taylor was yapping, Miss Patty and Babette were gossiping, and Kirk was starting his new job, as usual.

          In an apartment, two people had partied like it was 1999 all over again the previous night. They were both exhausted and about to experience one of the worst hangovers of their life. The alarm rang as the two groggily stirred; however, they didn’t dare to wake up just yet.

          Their legs were tangled together. Their hair was embarrassingly sticking up in all different directions. They didn’t know it just yet, but they had crossed the line between two friends last night.

          Tangled in each other arms, the man wrapped his arm tighter around the woman and she began to stir. Disoriented, the woman opened her eyes slowly. Her eyes glanced around her surrounding, trying to piece together the familiar-ness of it.

          Her head was pounding as if a giant boulder had fallen on it. She turned her head to her right and saw a familiar man’s sleeping face.

          “AHHHHHHHHHH!” Lorelai screamed wrapping the bedsheet around her, breaking away from the embrace she was enveloped in.

          “Urghhhhhhhh,” her scream woke up the man resulting in him echoing her scream in form of a grunt. “What the hell?!?!? Why are you so loud?” he grumbled.

          “Look at us!!” Lorelai exclaimed, causing him to sit up in bed, suddenly aware that he wasn’t dressed.

          “I, a, I don’t remember anything,” he stammered when he noticed Lorelai too wasn’t dressed.

          “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

          “I’m sure nothing happened,” he brushed off.

          “Nothing happened?! Luke, we are both sitting in _your_ bed with absolutely _no_ clothes on!”

          “Jeez, stop yelling,” he said, as he attempted to massage his head since it felt like someone was hammering inside it.

          “It’s too early, I need coffee,” Lorelai stated.

          “The coffee’s all downstairs,” he told her.

          “Hey, why aren’t you at the diner, it’s like 9 in the morning?”

          “Caesar was supposed to open.”

          “So, the diner is open?”

          “Yup,” he confirmed.

          “What are we going to do?” She asked.

          “What exactly is our problem?” Luke asked back, confused.

          “Someone is grumpy in the morning,” Lorelai pointed out.

          “Lorelai, this is not the time,” he told her as he continued to rub his aching head.

          “Right sorry,” she apologized while she looked at the clock again.   

         “I have to go.” She got up, holding the sheet close to her body, grabbing her clothes from the trail left behind last night. From the corner of her eye, she spotted something shiny on her finger.

          Lorelai hurried back over to Luke who was now lying back down on his back.

          She jumped on the bed, not caring that sheet that she was using to cover herself was now only covered half of her. Luke exclaimed, “What the-” he stopped midsentence when she grabbed his left hand, showing him the similar object that was also on his finger. Luke’s eyes widen.

          “What the hell did we do last night?” Lorelai asked trying to remain calm. She let go over his hand and scrambled off the bed.

          “Don’t look at me. I remember just as much as you do.”

          “Well, excuse me for drinking too much last night. You knew I was having a rough night!” She started to quickly get dressed.

          “Hey, don’t blame this on. I wasn’t the one who came here last night.”

          “I really have to go now,” she told him as she slipped on her shoes and opened the door to leave.

          “Use the back door,” he yelled behind her. The door slammed closed behind her.

          Today was going to be a weird day. 

**-X-**

 


	2. Oh Snap!

** Chapter 2- Oh Snap! **

           The rest of the day went by in blur for both Luke and Lorelai. Despite their pounding heads and gaps in memories from the night before, they both successfully made it through the day. Lorelai kept herself busy at the Independence Inn including some turndown service since a maid had call in sick. The time alone gave her plenty of time to reflect about last night’s events. Luke spent his day cooking, cleaning, taking orders for customers, and whatever else needing to be done in a diner. His day went by smoothly except for a phone call he gotten from Stars Hollow High letting him know that Jess had not shown up to any classes all day. He figured he was skipping and left it to be dealt with later. He had more important things on his mind.

           Luke finished closing the diner and went upstairs to get some sleep. He opened the door to his apartment and headed towards the kitchen when a long manila envelope on the table came to his attention. He went over and picked it up, opened it, and pulled out the thin white paper inside. He saw two very familiar, but slightly off, signatures scribbled at the bottom of the paper. What shocked him was what was written on the top:

  _State of Connecticut_

_Marriage License_

           “Shit!” He cursed.

           “What the hell?” Jess yelled back, who was sitting in his corner of the apartment on the phone.

           “Ugh, nothing. Sorry,” he apologized, lamely.

           “Scream as loud as you want, it’s not like I’m making a very important call,” Jess said in his sarcastic tone.

           “Shut up.” _‘I need to talk to Lorelai,’_ Luke thought. “Hey, are you talking to Rory?” He suddenly asked.

           “Yeah why?” Jess asked.

           “Umm, could you tell her to put Lorelai on the phone?” Luke asked him.

           Jess covered the phone receiver with the palm of his hand and replied, “No.”

           “Jess, please. It is important,” Luke pleaded.

           “Fine, flirt with your dream girl using my very limited free time,” he put the phone to his ear and said, “Hey, Rory, is your mom there?”

           “Yeah, why?” Rory asked him.

           “Luke needs to speak to her,” he explained

           “Oh ok, Mom!” Jess heard her say through the receiver.

           “What’s up doc?” he heard Lorelai ask Rory.

           “Luke wants to talk to you,” Rory explained.

           “Oh,” her voice dropped to a serious tone.

           “Oh? Did something happen between the two of you?” Rory asked.

           “Ugh, no why would you say that?”

           “Because your voice just dropped from ‘crazy teenager’ to ‘dead serious’. Are you guys fighting again?” Rory pointed out then asked.

           “No, it’s nothing, just give me the phone,” Lorelai shrugged off.  

           “Ok then, if you have to talk, you know where my office is.” Rory headed to the direction of her room to give her mother some privacy.

           “Luke?” Jess heard Lorelai come on the line and then he tossed the phone to Luke. “Uh, hello?” Lorelai spoke again.

           Luke caught the phone and then fumbled to hold the phone the right way before saying, “Umm, hey.”

           “Hi.” There was a silence on both ends of the phone.

           “If you wanted me to get off the phone with my girlfriend just for you to say ‘hey’, then I want the phone back,” Lorelai could hear Jess say to Luke on the other line.

           “Pipe down. Sorry, um. Hi. I just wanted to tell you that I kind of found something that has to do with last night.”

           “What is it?” Lorelai asked, her voice starting to sound a little irritated.

           Luke took a deep breath. “It’s a license.”

           “A license?” She parroted.

           “Yup.”

           “What kind of license?” Lorelai asked, confused and on the verge of losing her patience.  

           “Ah…” Luke stalled.

           “Luke, seriously, I need some more information before I pull the Miss Congeniality act out.”

           “It’samarriagelicense,” he quickly said.

           “What?”

           “It’s a marriage license. We somehow got legally married yesterday,” he explained to the best of his ability.

           Jess’ ears perked up and walked over to were Luke was standing near the kitchen table. His eyes widen when he saw the license in question over Luke’s shoulder. “Oh, crap!” He said quietly to himself when he noticed how official the document looked.

           “Ha ha jokes over Luke. You think you are sooo clever!” Lorelai didn’t believe him.

           “I’m not joking. I wouldn’t joke about something like this,” Luke sincerely told her.

           “You sure? Because I feel like I’m on Punk’d. Oh, that Ashton Kutcher thinks I’m so stupid, but I’m actually not just a pretty face, you know.”

           “For Pete’s sake, can you be serious for once? I am not kidding! We. Are. Married! I am staring at the proof!”

           “Yeah, right. How could you get me to do something like that? I’m Miss ‘Can’t-Make-a-Commitment’ and you are Mr. ‘Bachelor-for-life’,” she countered, refusing to believe it.

           “Well, you did and so did I,” Luke told her again.

           Lorelai was in denial, “we cannot be married.”

           “WE ARE MARRIED,” he stressed the words further.

           “I need to see this to believe it,” she told him.

           “Fine.”

           “Good, come over,” she asked.

           “What? No, you come over,” he countered.

           “What are we 12?”

           “Just come over here. I’ll give you coffee,” Luke knew exactly what to say to allure her over.

           “Sold! I’ll be there soon.”

           “Bye,” Luke clicked off the phone.

           “So, you and Lorelai Gilmore are married. I guess that makes me and Rory cousins,” Jess said with a smirk on his face.

           Luke decided to ignore him and told him, “shut up and go to bed.”

           “Is it past my bedtime? Can I wait for Auntie Lorelai tuck me in?” Jess acted like a 5-year-old kid.

           “Zip it!” Luke ordered.

           “Oh, come on, a man gets married and all of a sudden can’t take a joke?” Jess said as he walked over to his bed and picked up a book to read.

  **-X-**

**TBC**


	3. The Real Ross and Rac

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2 years Gilmore Girls A Year in the Life anniversary!

          “Rory, I have to go out for awhile,” Lorelai knocked on her door and told her, not bothering to opening the door.

           “Where to?” Rory asked back.

           “To Luke’s?” She simply replied.

           “This late? Why?” her daughter questioned.

           “Umm, I’ll let you know as soon as I get back.”

           “But why can’t you tell me now?” Rory opened the door to her room and asked.

           “Rory, please, why do have to go and make things so complicated?” Lorelai rhetorically asked, frustrated.

           “ _‘Acting like you’re somebody else just gets me frustrated,’”_ Rory quoted.

           “Ha-ha,” Lorelai responded in a monotone voice.

           “Admit it, that was a little funny,” Rory said in an effort to lighten the mood.

           “No, sweetie, Avril really doesn’t agree with you.”

           “She sure agrees with you and the life that you claim I make c _omplicated_ for you.”

           “Mommy really has to run,” Lorelai insisted as she grabbed her purse from the kitchen table along with her keys.

           “Mom,” Rory moved to block the back door.

           “Ok, fine,” Lorelai caved. “You know how I wasn’t home last night?”

           “Yeah…”

           “Well, I happened to be with Luke.”

           “What were you doing with Luke?” Rory encouraged her to continue.

           “See, that’s the problem. I don’t exactly remember,” Lorelai confessed.

           Rory was confused so she asked, “So you are going over to ask Luke what happened?”

           “Oh, if only it were that easy.”

           “What?”

           “This morning, I,” she took a deep breath, “I woke up in bed with Luke, sans clothes,” she admitted.

           Rory’s mouth hung open.

           “And…”

           Rory’s eyes grew wide, “There’s more?”

           “Well, yeah. It really wouldn’t have been a problem if it weren’t for this little tidbit.” She went over to her purse and took out a plain, simple silver ring.

           “That’s a ring,” Rory identified.

           “Chilton is doing a bang-up job teaching you deductive reasoning,” she said sarcastically. “Duh, it’s a ring. The funny thing is that I found the ring on my left hand, second finger from my left this morning. Not to mention Luke had a matching, more manlier one.” Rory’s eyes widen even more.

          “YOU GOT MARRIED?!?!?! WITHOUT ME?!?!” Rory shrieked.

          Lorelai winced at the sound of Rory’s voice. “If it helps hun, I don’t think it was for real, like one of those pretend weddings that JLo seems to have every few years. She’s kind of due for another one soon. And oh yeah, I don’t even remember it.”          

         “YOU GOT MARRIED!” Rory moved away from the door and started to pace around the kitchen. “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?”

           “See, if I remembered that we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. Look sweetie, I really have to go,” Lorelai took the opportunity to grab the door knob while Rory was pacing. “I told Luke I would be there. He says he found something that may help solve the puzzle.” Lorelai pulled open the door and stepped out.

           “Ok, fill me in as soon as you get home!” Rory called after her.

  **-X-**

**-Luke’s Apartment**

           “I can’t believe this!” Lorelai exclaimed.

           “Well, neither can I,” Luke agreed.

           They stared at the piece of evidence Luke found earlier.

           Jess sat on his bed smirking and shaking his head from side- to -side.

           “And you think this is funny?” Luke asked him, clearly annoyed.

           “Well who knew you two would be like the real Ross and Rachel,” Jess said.

           Luke frowned, the vein on his forehead growing. “What the heck are you talking about?”

           “Nothing,” Jess decided not to expand.

           “It’s from a TV show Luke,” Lorelai tried to clear things up for him.

           “Huh?”

           “Turn on a TV one of these days to something other than a ball game,” Lorelai told him.

           “You do know you have turned your problem into mine,” Jess pointed out.

           “Nobody is talking to you here,” Luke tried to ignore him.

           “Fine, I guess I just have to deal with the fact that I’m dating my cousin.”

           “Oh, the kid’s got a point,” Lorelai sided with Jess.

           “You think this is all big joke,” Luke accused Lorelai.

           “Well, it is,” Jess answered instead of Lorelai.

           “Jess, why don’t you go for a walk or something,” Lorelai suggested sensing Luke’s boiling temper.

           “Ok,” he agreed, grabbed a book from his bed, and headed towards the door. “Bye Uncle Luke. Bye Auntie Lorelai!” Jess said while closing the door behind him.

           “I hate that he is having too much fun with this,” Lorelai said.

           “And I have to live with him,” Luke sympathized.

           Things were silent for what seemed like several minutes.  

          “So, we are married,” Lorelai said, breaking the silence. “We really are married. I am married to my best friend.”

           Luke’s eyebrows raised. “I’m your best friend?”

           “Yeah, I mean why else would I have come to you yesterday?” Lorelai asked.

          “Yesterday,” Luke took a long deep breath out, “well that was a life-altering day,” he continued.

          “Yeah it was.” Lorelai thought for a moment, before she said, “So you are now my husband. Does that mean I own half the diner? Ooh, can I go behind the counter? How about free food?” her excitement grew at this thought.

           “No, no, and you never pay anyway,” Luke quickly answered.

           “Oh, come on. You are my husband,” she tried to convince him.

           “And you are my wife,” he simply stated.

           “Oh my god, I’m a wife.” It just hit her like a fast ball. “Just for the record, don’t expect the Donna Reed routine from me.”

           Luke laughed, fully knowing Lorelai’s life skills. “I didn’t expect you to,” he told her.

           “So, what now? Do we move in together, get matching jogging suits, and a golden retriever?” Lorelai asked as a joke.

           “Lorelai,” Luke warned as he took his ring out of the pocket and toyed with it between his fingers.

           “There is a very easy way out of this,” Lorelai said.                                      

          “What?”

           “A divorce,” she suggested.

           “Yeah. I guess we should deal with that before everything gets out, with the town and all,” Luke pointed out.

         “Yeah, the town.” She laughed to herself a little when she thought out loud, “Boy would they get a kick out of this.”

           “Oh yeah,” Luke agreed.

          “You better tell Jess to keep his smart-ass mouth closed,” Lorelai told him.

           “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

            “Well, we have a connection now, we are married after all.”

           “Do I really have to wear this thing?” Luke asked referring to the ring.

           “Oh, god no!” Lorelai told him as she slipped her ring into a pocket in her purse.

           “Good, because technically, we aren’t married. Sure, we both signed a piece of paper saying we will come home to each other everyday, keep each other happy, have jam-handed kids running around just because the wife wanted them, and I act like a trained puppy dog all the time doesn’t mean anything. We are not even together. It was a mistake,” Luke ranted.

           “Yeah,” Lorelai choked out, with a fake pleasant look on her face. Her mind thought, “ _He definitely didn’t want to get married.”_

 

**-X-**

**TBC**


	4. Lawyers and Other Surprise

** Chapter 4- Lawyers and Other Surprises **

         “We need a lawyer,” Luke said to Lorelai on the phone the next day.

 

         “Why?” she asked as she thumbed through a new _Vogue_ magazine.

 

          “To get a divorce or an annulment. We need a lawyer in order to do that,” he explained.

 

          “Ok then get one,” Lorelai simply responded.

 

          “From where?”

 

          “Call up Ross. I’m sure he knows some good lawyers,” Lorelai heard Jess say in the background causing her to giggle.

 

          “You stay out of this,” Luke grumbled.

 

          “Whatever you what, Uncle Luke,” Jess said as he went back to reading his book in his corner of the apartment.

 

          “Tell him he’s been watching _Friends_ a little too much,” Lorelai said.

 

          “Who’s been watching _Friends_ a little too much?” Rory came out of the room and asked Lorelai who now had abandoned her magazine and picked up a bottle of red nail polish that was sitting on the coffee table.

 

          “Your cousin,” she told her nonchalantly.

 

          “What cousin?” Rory’s brows furrowed in question.

 

          “Your new cousin, Jess; AKA your _boyfriend_ ,” she emphasized ‘boyfriend’ mixed with a disgusted looked.

 

          “Eww, mom!” Rory exclaimed. “Ok, I’m now leaving this room.” She walked back towards her bedroom.

 

          “Where are we going to find a lawyer?” Luke asked, trying to bring the conversation back to the point.

 

          “I thought that question was already answered,” Lorelai innocently told him with a smirk on her face.

 

          “Be serious.”

 

          “I really don’t know. Ask Taylor or something,” she randomly suggested.

 

          “We can’t ask Taylor or anyone in this town as a matter of fact. You know how nosy they can and will get.”

 

          “Fine. Then google ‘lawyers’,” she suggested.

 

          “What?”

 

          “Google.”

 

          “If I knew what you were saying then I wouldn’t be saying ‘what’.”

 

          “Sshesh, you’re no fun anymore. Google, as in the internet search engine invented to search anything you want on the worldwide web.”

 

          “Oh, that. I don’t have a computer,” he told her.

 

          “Oh, my god!” Lorelai exclaimed.

 

          “What?”

 

          “Rory?”

 

          “Yeah?” Rory popped her head out of the kitchen.

 

          “Luke doesn’t have a computer!”

 

          She gasped in shocked.

 

          “I know,” Lorelai stated as matter of fact. “Luke, Rory is shocked too.”

 

          “How can he not have a computer? It’s like the whole world now. Oh, I have a paper to write. Why write it when you can type it? I mean who in their right mind doesn’t have a computer in this new age of technology upcoming?” Rory asked rhetorically.

 

          “Luke, Rory is now flipping out about her new daddy not having a computer.”

 

          “Can we please get back on track now? Wait, did you just refer to me as Rory’s ‘daddy’?”

 

          “Um-” she got distracted by Rory.

 

          “Mom, why don’t you just ask grandma and grandpa for a name of a lawyer?” Rory suggested.

 

          Lorelai’s mouth hung low.

 

          “What did she say?” Luke asked on the phone.

 

          “Nothing, Luke. Rory that is not an option. Hold on, Luke,” she covered the phone with a hand.

 

          “Why not?” Rory inquired.

 

          “Because, they will pick someone expensive,” Lorelai argued.

 

          “And…” Rory encouraged her to go on knowing that there was another reason.

 

          “And I don’t want them to know about the marriage, nor do I want the town to know,” Lorelai admitted. “This shouldn’t be surprising to you.”

 

          “But-”

 

          She interrupted firmly, “No ‘buts’ Rory.”

 

          “What did she say again?” Luke asked once more.

 

          “It’s nothing Luke; it’s definitely not an option,” Lorelai spoke into the phone.

 

          “Why not?” he asked.

 

          She simply replied, “Because.”

 

          “You will need to come up with a better reason than that,” he told her.

 

          “I, um, no,” she struggled to find a comeback.

 

          “How bad can it be?”

 

           “Fine. She wants me to ask my parents. We all know what happened the last time I asked for something from my parents. I sold my soul to them every Friday night. What’s this one gonna cost?”

 

          “Well, if they can help us then it’s worth a shot,” Luke entertained the idea since it was the only valid one.

 

          “I don’t want them to know we are married.” She finally gave in and confessed to him.

 

          “What not?”

 

          “Why not?!?! Are you seriously asking me, ‘why not?’” she exclaimed. “Because, I cannot tell them I failed at something again and give them that disappointment again. I think I’ve disappointed them enough for a lifetime, don’t you think? I mean, we weren’t even together, heck neither of us can even remember what happen. What do I say, ‘hey Mom and Dad, guess what? I married Luke and now I want out because I don’t remember how it happened’? And where was Jess? I mean, we were at your apartment, and he does live there too. How the hell did we get our clothes off?”

 

          “Look, if I knew that I would give you an answer. I’ll ask him and get back to you. I’m going to go look up law firms in the yellow pages.”

 

          “Go thinking, hubby. Go look it up. It would be so much easier if you had a computer,” she pointed out.

 

          “Bye.” He hung up.

 

          Rory sat down on the couch next to her mother.

 

          “So how is married life?” she asked her mother.

 

          “Just peachy,” she said with her voice full of sarcasm.

 

          “That’s good to hear.”

 

          “I need a divorce.”

 

          “Aww, Luke’s not keeping you happy?”

 

          “No, he’s such a guy.”

 

          “Makes a great burger, though,” Rory reminded her.

 

          “A damn fine one at that!”

 

**-X-**

 

_-Friday Night Dinner at Gilmore Mansion-_

 

          “Rory, how’s school?” Emily asked.

 

          “Good,” Rory responded as she picked up a carrot with her fork and brought it to her mouth.

         

          It was quiet in the dining room for a few seconds.

 

          “Why are you two so quiet?” Emily asked.

 

          “No reason mom,” Lorelai replied.

 

          “So, where’s Grandpa tonight?” Rory asked to make conversation.

 

          Lorelai played with her ring which she has conveniently switched to her right hand. She had found it in her purse this morning when she was switching bags and had slipped it back on her finger, on her right hand, for save keeping, of course.”

 

          “He’s in Denmark,” Emily answered.

 

          “Oooo, that prince is a hottie,” Lorelai chirped in.

 

          “Excuse me.”

 

          “The actor who played the Prince of Denmark in the movie the _Prince and Me_ was a hottie.”

 

          “Lorelai it is not appropriate to call a future leader of a country a ‘hottie’.”

 

          “Well, Prince William has that whole receding hairline thing started that takes the title away from him,” Lorelai continued.

 

          “Lorelai,” Emily warned.

 

          Lorelai looked down and played with the ring on her finger. She looked back up to not draw notice to her fidgeting.

 

          “Hey, did you know if you pick a number 1-10, multiply it by 9 then add the digits for the product together then subtract 5, you will always get 4?” Rory attempted to change the subject.

 

          Lorelai continued to play with her ring on top of the table, sliding it from one finger to another, from one hand to another, unconsciously.

 

          “That’s quite fascinating Rory,” Emily said. “Do you know what else is fascinating?”

 

          “No what Grandma?” Rory asked since Lorelai was staring at her plate in a daze.

 

          “That ring on your mother’s left hand.”

 

**-X-**

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5- Did not? Does not?

** Chapter 5- Did not? Does not? **

          “That ring on your mother’s left hand.”

          Lorelai’s head shot up at her mother’s comment.

          “What ring? This ring?” Lorelai held up her hand to confirm.

          “Yes? What’s it doing on your left hand?”

          “This is a ring,” Lorelai responded.

         “Yes Lorelai, we know that. What I don’t know is what is it doing on your left hand?” Emily asked again.

         “Well, I- I was playing with it, and I moved, or I didn’t realize I put it back on the wrong finger. See when I came in it was on my right hand,” Lorelai explained as she switched the ring back to her right hand.

         “Yeah, Grandma, she showed it to me when she got it. There’s nothing to read into,” Rory defended her mother.

         “Lorelai, is this true?”

         “Why wouldn’t it be?” Lorelai countered.

         “It’s just a ring?” Emily asked for clarification.

         “Yes,” Lorelai answered.       

         “Now that’s settled, Jane!” Emily called for the maid. “Can you please bring out the dessert? Jane? Can you please acknowledge that you can hear me?”

**-X-**

          “That was a close one.” Lorelai said, as they walked to the jeep after the dinner.

          “Oh yeah,” Rory agreed.

          “To Luke’s?” Lorelai asked.

          “Aww, you want to see your husband,” she teased her mother.

          “He’s not my husband,” Lorelai said, in defense.

          “Well you are legally bound to each other,” Rory pointed out as they both opened the car door to sit inside the Jeep.

          “So what if there’s a piece of paper that says I am with a guy forever. It doesn’t mean anything. I don’t love him, and he certainly doesn’t love me.”

          “That’s just what you think.”

          “What do you mean?” she turned her head to look at her daughter.

          “You may not want to admit it, but Luke loves you. Marrying you must have been a dream come true for him,” Rory pointed out.

           “Oh c’mon. Did Miss Patty put you to this? Or was it Sookie?”

          “Next time you talk to him, just look him in the eyes. You’ll see it.”

          “There is nothing to see. Besides, I’ve already heard the ‘I hate marriage’ and the ‘Why do people get married?’ rants. In conclusion, Luke does not, wait um did not? Does not?”

          “I guess both works in this case,” Rory concluded.

          “Anywho, Luke does not/did not want to marry me or want to ever be married. I’m telling you he’s a bachelor for life,” Lorelai said as she started to pull out the driveway.

          “He must get lonely,” Rory randomly said.

          “He has Jess,” Lorelai pointed out.

          “Yes, but Jess will be gone when he graduates. He needs a lady friend, other than you,” Rory countered.

          “I’m not his lady friend.”

          “And you act like he’s your boy toy.”

          “Oh stop! And ew!” Lorelai flinched in disgusted.

          “Admit it,” Rory pushed.

          “There is nothing to admit.”

          “How many times do you use the hair flip to get something you want?”

         “What? That’s not fair. I use the hair flip frequently and on multiple people. I convinced Babette that I didn’t need to plant some new plants in in the spring using the hair flip. That is in addition to getting some extra cheesy bread from Pete’s,” Lorelai provided examples.

          “Yes, but it is different with Luke.”

          “No it’s not. It is exactly the same,” Lorelai agued.

          “Fine. I’ll be sure to point it out when you do it tonight to get coffee at this hour.”

          “I’m dropping you off at home first,” Lorelai threatened.

          “Oh, you want some alone time?” Rory continued to tease.

          “Is this gonna stop?” Lorelai asked.

          “Nope. I can go all day!” Rory smiled.

          “Ugh, this should be a figgin’ movie,” Lorelai thought out loud.

          “I agree. It should be called Legally Married. Reese Witherspoon could play you and George Clooney can be Luke. It’ll be the number one movie of the year. There will be many Oscars,” Rory chuckled.

  **-X-**

  _-Luke’s-_

         The bell rang as Lorelai and Rory walked into the diner.

          “We’re closed,” Luke announced coming out of the kitchen.

          The duo ignored his comments and continued to take a seat at the counter.

          “Even for your daughter?” Rory said with a pout causing Luke to blush.

          Lorelai placed her bag on the empty stool next to her with a sigh. “She planned a movie about our married life,” Lorelai shared with Luke while pointing at Rory next to her.

          “Get out,” he responded with a small cackle.

          “Reese Witherspoon is going to play me,” she shared further.

          “Isn’t she blond? Who will be playing me?” He asked her.

           In the meantime, Rory slipped off her stool to meet Jess by the staircase behind the counter. The two then went upstairs, leaving the newlyweds alone in the diner.

          “You, believe it or not, will be played by none other than George Clooney.”

          “Am I really that old and will I get to meet Reese or George?”

          “George of the Jungle, yes probably,” Lorelai said.

          “I found us a lawyer,” Luke announced, changing the subject.

          “Oh yeah? Who is it?”

          “Her name is Nicole Leahy,” he shared.

          “Oh, did you find her in the yellow pages?” She teased him.

          “As a matter of fact, no. She was here at the diner for business.”

          “Why?”

          “Taylor sent her.”

          “Is she Taylor’s new red, hot mama?”

          Luke chuckled, “ha, if only.”

          “Why did Taylor send a lawyer to the diner?”

          “So he could rent the building next door,” he told her.

           “Oh, my god!” Lorelai exclaimed.

          “What?”

          “She’s Taylor’s lawyer,” she said as a statement.

          “She must be cheap if Taylor hired her,” Luke shared his logic with her.

          “I can’t believe you hired Taylor’s lawyer to get us a divorce,” Lorelai couldn’t believe.

          “I haven’t hired her yet,” he informed her.

          “The whole town is going to know,” she whined.

          “Why is it so bad if the town knows?”

          “Because,” she simply stated as her reason.

          “Because why?” he challenged.

          Lorelai hesitated as she dug through her mind for a reason. “Because my mother will find out,” she finally said.

          “Since when does your mother hang out in Stars Hollow?” Luke questioned, bringing attention to the obvious flaw with her excuse.

          Lorelai countered, “She does stop by without notice.”

          “What does your mother have to do with this?” Luke asked.

          “I don’t know it seemed like a good idea at the time. I just spent the evening with her,” she shrugged.

          “Fine, just don’t mention this to Taylor,” he added.

          “Done!”

          “Good.”

          “I’ll be free soon,” Lorelai said.

          “Well nothing is holding you back,” Luke told her.

          Before she could reply, Lorelai’s cell phone rang. She reached into her purse to find it.

          “Hello?” she answered.

          “Hey, it’s Alex. Alex Lesman,” a man on the other line introduced.

          “Oh hey,” she began to walk towards the door.

          “How have you been?” He asked.

          “Good, how about you?” she politely asked back.

          “I’ve been good too. Listen I wanted to know if we were still on for tomorrow, the coffee tasting?”

         “Oh yeah. Uh, yes, we are still on,” she winced in realization she had forgotten with the recently development in her life.

          “Great, I’ll pick you up at three,” Alex told her.

          “I’ll be ready.”

          “Ok I’ll see you then.”

          “Bye.”

          “Bye.” She hung up the phone. She walked back to the counter and took a seat the stool. Rory had returned as well, this time with a book in hand.

          “Who was that?” Rory asked.

          “Alex.”

          “Who?”

          “Alex, you know the guy who is Sookie’s chef friend’s business partner. I told you about him a couple of weeks ago.”

          “Ooooo scandalous,” Rory teased. 

          “Rory please, this is not a game,” Lorelai began in an annoyed and slightly angered tone. “It was fun for a day or week, but that’s it. No more. This is between Luke and I and it will be over very soon,” she firmly laid down.

          “Ok, jeez don’t wig.”

          “Sorry, Hun,” Lorelai apologized. “Luke we are leaving!”

          “Ok, good night!” he told them from the kitchen.

          “So you have a date tomorrow?” Luke overheard Rory asking her mother.

          “Yeah, he’s taking me coffee tasting.”

          “Oh, he must be a man from heaven.”

         They exited the diner leaving Luke alone staring at the empty stool that Lorelai had been sitting on.

  **-X-**

**TBC**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! New chapter will be up soon!


	6. Hahaha Fishing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some dialogue borrowed from 3x12 Lorelai Out of Water

** Chapter 6- HAHAHA Fishing? **

  _-Crap Shack-_

          “How was your date with Alex?” Rory asked her mother the next afternoon when Lorelai had returned from her coffee tasting date with Alex.  

         “It was pretty good. I just had this weird feeling in my stomach the whole time,” Lorelai told her.

          “That is probably because you are still married,” she stated as a matter of factly.

          Lorelai physically tensed up then she sternly asked her daughter, “Will you stop bringing that up?”

          “Why? It’s true,” she argued.

          “Because, it won’t be soon,” she countered calmly.

          “What do you mean?” Rory questioned.

          “Luke found us a lawyer,” Lorelai informed her.

          Rory raised her eyebrows in surprised. Knowing Luke, she asked teasingly, “The yellow pages?”

          “No, he stole Taylor’s,” Lorelai smirked as she proved her daughter wrong.

          “Seriously?” Lorelai nodded. “Wait until Taylor finds out. I’m sure he’ll have a cow.”

          “Probably, although I am hoping for a reference from Luke’s past to come up.”

          “So, what happened on your date?”

          “Well, we drank coffee,” Lorelai began.

          “No! Really?” she said sarcastically.

         “It was nice. He’s taking me fishing next Sunday,” she finished.

          “Hahaha!” Rory burst out laughing. “You’re kidding, right?”

          Lorelai nodded, “no, he really is.”

          “Uh oh. You fishing?” Rory asked again.

          “What’s wrong with me fishing?” Lorelai questioned.

          “Mom, just listen to yourself say that.”

  **-X-**

          _-Next Day-_

          “What’s all this?” Luke asked Rory and Lorelai referring to the books scatters about the table in the diner.

          “Books,” Rory simply replied.

          Lorelai finished, “on fishing.”

          “Why on fishing?” Luke asked.

          “Because I’m learning how to fish,” Lorelai explained. Luke started to laugh. “Why does everyone do that? Yes, I am going fishing,” Lorelai stated.

          “And you are using these books to learn how to fish?” Luke asked her.

          “Yup,” Rory answered for her mother.

          Luke shook his head. “Thelma, Louise, there’s another way to learn how to fish.”

         “Oh, really how?” Lorelai asked.

          “I fish,” he simply stated.

          “Your point being?”

          “I can teach you how to fish,” Luke told her.

          Lorelai turned her head to look up at him and asked, “Seriously? You’ll teach me?”

          Luke nodded. “Yeah, if you want. I can get you started you know, make sure you don’t strangle yourself with your own line,” he told her.

          “Great. Is tomorrow good?”

          “Yeah. I’ll bring the supplies. I assume you don’t have a pole?”

          “Would that be the stick thing?” Lorelai asked, genuinely.

          “Yeah.”

          “Ugh!” Rory yelped.

          Lorelai looked over to see what she was looking at in the book.

          “Eww! Hey Luke, I don’t want to learn any of that,” Lorelai winced.

  **-X-**

          The following day, Luke brought over all the supplies necessary to learn how to fish including his own kiddie pond with fish. So far, the best part about this for Luke had been the fact that he went fishing that morning so he would have something to fill the pool with. Lorelai sashayed out of her house wearing her fisherwoman’s outfit complete with a hat. Luke couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of her playing the role of a fisherwoman. He finished setting up the pool while Lorelai got herself acquainted with her new fish friends.

         He finished showing her how to cast her line when he asked her, “So tell me again why you are doing this?”

          “Because you told me to,” Lorelai replied.

          “I mean tell me why you are learning how to fish,” Luke clarified.

          “Oh, I told you, some of my friends are going,” Lorelai said.

          “What friends? Sookie?” he questioned further.

          “What?”

         “Is Sookie going fishing? Or Rory? Is she going fishing? Did Rory suddenly get the overwhelming urge to dig for worms and stand in the middle of a lake at 5am?”

          “Ok, fine, I have a date,” she admitted.

          “So, it’s a guy,” Luke concluded.

          “Yeah.”

          “Why didn’t you tell me?”

          “I ok, I mean I feel stupid getting rigged into the thing in the first place. And then, plus you don’t want to hear about my personal life.”

          “So, first date or second?” he asked curiously, but nonchalantly. After all, they’d been married for about two weeks. They technically shared a personal life.

          “Second, he took me to a coffee tasting thing,” she casually told him.

          “Perfect match,” he said and retuned his attention back to fishing. 

 

**-X-**

  _-Sunday Morning-_

          The door bell rang to the Gilmore house as Lorelai rushed to open it. The sun wasn’t shining yet and there certainly weren’t any bird chirping yet.  

          “Rory! I’m leaving,” Lorelai announced before opening the front door.

          “Arrr,” she heard Rory as she came out of her room wrapped in a blanket.

          “Come on, cranky pants.”

          “Early,” the younger Gilmore simply replied.

          “Yes, it’s early. Hey,” Lorelai opened the door and greeted Alex.

          “Hi,” Alex replied.

          “Hold on a second, I have to get my purse. Come on in. This is my daughter Rory,” she introduced.

          “Hi,” he said as he stepped into the house and followed Lorelai into the area between the foyer and the living room.

          Rory waved with her eyes still closed.

          “Not a morning person?” Alex asked.

          “Nope,” Lorelai responded as she gathered all the fishing equipment that Luke had let her borrow along with her purse.

          “Well, it was nice to meet you,” Alex told Rory.

          Lorelai walked by with a fishing net towards the front door.

          “Your mom’s never been fishing, has she?” Alex whispered, asking Rory.

          “Well no, she’s a well-seasoned fish killer,” Rory replied, coming up with on the spot as she rubbed her eyes.

          “Hey, I brought the coffee,” Luke announced as he let himself in before Lorelai could open the front door.

          “Luke, what are you doing here?” Lorelai asked.

          “Rory called me; coffee emergency,” he explained.

          “Oh, hey Luke. Thank god coffee!” Rory greeted as she took a cup out of his hand and gulped half of it down.

         “Can’t you make your own coffee at 5:30 in the morning?” Luke asked.

          “Well, someone decided to wake me up before the sun today. Not even Taylor is up at this hour,” Rory grumbled.

         “Actually, I saw Taylor at Doose’s on my way here,” Luke said, negating Rory’s argument.

         “I can’t believe you ordered coffee,” Lorelai told Rory as the shock of seeing Luke wore off.

         “I can’t believe Luke just stuck up for Taylor!” Rory countered.  

         “Shall we go?” Alex awkwardly interrupted.

         “I really don’t know what I was thinking,” Luke said to Rory, ignoring Alex.

         Lorelai noticed Luke’s dismissiveness towards Alex. “Oh sorry, Luke. This is Alex. Alex. Luke,” she introduced.

          “Hi,” Luke greeted as he handed Lorelai the other to go cup he was holding.

          “Hi,” Alex greeted coming more out like a sigh.

          “Let’s go.” Lorelai said to Alex as she headed towards the front door. “Bye Rory,” she said as she closed the door behind her.

          “So that’s fish-boy?” Luke asked Rory.

          “Nighty-night.” Rory said and collapsed onto the couch.

**-X-**

          “Who’s Luke? Is he Rory’s dad?” Alex asked Lorelai when they both settled into Alex’s car.

          “Uh no,” she responded.

          “Ok then, who is he?”

          “Just a friend.” She kept her responses short.

          “A friend who personally brings you coffee in the morning?”

          “Yup.”

          “Ok.” There was a silence between them as Alex navigated to the highway leading outside of Stars Hollow. “Care to share any other information?” He asked her in a curious but sweet tone.

          “It’s actually a long story. I would like to save it for another time. How far is the lake?” Lorelai tried to divert the conversation.

          “Hour and a half,” he told her.

          “Drats,” she said as she snapped her fingers, realizing she wasn’t going to get out of this easy.

          “I think there is plenty of time for that story,” Alex pointed out.

          “Alright. Luke’s my coffee supplier. He owns the local diner in town that I was talking about the other day,” she told him.

          “Oh, and he shows up with coffee whenever you call?”

          “I’ve never tried it before. Rory did it today and I now I am wondering why I didn’t think of that myself. It’s genius.”

          “So, he has a delivery service?”

          “Sure, let’s go with that,” Lorelai tried to end the conversation.

          “And…” Alex encouraged her to continue.

          “And what?” she flashed him a Cheshire cat like smile.

          “Look, you can tell me if he an ex or something. We aren’t exclusive yet, but I think it is something I should know especially if he is showing up at 5:30 in the morning at your door with coffee.”

          “Ok, fine. he’s sort of my husband. Ex-husband,” she quickly corrected.

          “Oh, you never mentioned him on our last date,” he pointed out.

          “It was a very very short marriage,” she explained.

          “I see.”

          “It’s nothing to be worried about,” she reassured him.

          “Sure?”

          “Yes.”

          “Ok, then.”

          “While I am being all honest, I should probably tell you that I don’t know how to fish and I’ve never been camping,” Lorelai confessed.

          “I already knew that,” Alex revealed.

         “Then why did you have me up at four in the morning?”

          “Because we’re going to a spa.”

          “Ooh!”

**-X-**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBC!  
> Would love you hear your thoughts! Please leave a comment!


	7. Gift are Never Necessary, But Always Appreciated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Some dialogue borrowed from 3x13 Dear Emily and Richard

“How was fishing?” Luke asked Lorelai, who was returning the fishing gear she had borrowed from him.

“We didn’t go?” she told him.

Luke’s brows furrowed. He had seen them leave together. He asked, “then what the hell did you do?”

“Why do you care?” she asked back.

“I was just wondering. After all, I had spent time teaching you how to fish. Coffee?” He offered, grabbing a mug from the shelf under the counter.

“Do fish need water?” she rhetorically asked.

Ignoring her, he poured her a cup and said, “By the way next Friday is our meeting with the lawyer. I know you have your parents’ dinner, but it was the only time Nicole was at her office here.”

“Nicole? The layer’s name is Nicole? Nope, pick another lawyer.”

“No, it took me a long time to find one,” he protested.

Lorelai picked up her coffee mug to take a sip before saying, “You just stole Taylor’s. You did absolutely no research and put absolutely no effort in this,” Lorelai argued setting the cup of coffee down.

“I thought we wanted this done quickly and quietly?” Luke pointed out as he handed plates from the kitchen to one of his waiters.

“Why don’t we just sit and talk to Nicole. She’s right over there,” she pointed out the window where a woman with short blond hair in a business suit was speaking with Taylor in the sidewalk in front of the soon to be Soda Shoppe.

“No,” he told her, but she had already gotten off her seat and walked behind the counter to him.

“Yes, now c’mon,” she grabbed the sleeve of his flannel shirt and pulled him out of the diner.

“Jess!” Luke yelled.

“Go ahead, I’ll burn the place down,” Jess sardonically responded with a chuckle in the end.

**-X-**

_-Outside-_

“Oh, Luke Hi,” Nicole greeted Luke and Lorelai in front of what would be Taylor’s new Soda Shoppe.

“Hi, umm this is Lorelai,” he awkwardly introduced.

“Oh, hello,” Nicole greeted as they shook hands.

“Hello,” Lorelai replied back and then started, “look we won’t be able to make it to our appointment next Friday. I have a family thing and I was wondering if you could just draw up the papers for us. We have nothing to argue over. We are simple and easy,” she explained.

“I wish my job was that easy, but I need to have a meeting with both of you and set up the terms and split the things,” Nicole replied.

“We don’t want anything. Our marriage was a mistake. We just want out like nothing happened,” Lorelai continued to explain.

Nicole smiled politely but held her stance. “I still need a meeting.”

“Can’t we just get it annulled?” Luke suggested.

“I’ll still need a meeting with both of you present and a lawyer to represent her interests,” Nicole told them.

“Oh well, then we will figure a way to get to the meeting then,” Luke told her before Lorelai could get the chance to make another argument.

“I’ll see you both on Friday,” Nicole said and turned her attention back to Taylor who was standing nearby in his construction hat on with a shocked look on his face.

**-X-**

_-Independence Inn-_

“It’s your party, we want you to be happy… Ok no problem. All right, I’ll talk to you then,” Lorelai hung up the phone and turned to Michel and said, “Ridgemont called.”

“No,” he said ruefully.

“We have to call the florist,” Lorelai thought out loud.

“This is the fourth theme he has picked. He had the fishing one, the Kentucky Derby with the chocolate horsies and the Tibet with Richard Gere pictures everywhere,” Michel complained.

“I know,” Lorelai walked around the counter with Michel following her.

“And he promised that the golf would be the last one.”

“Well he decided that golf was dull, and he didn’t want to be known as dull,” Lorelai repeated the client’s words.

“Would he like to be remembered as limping? Because I can be a help with that,” Michel threatened.

Lorelai pulled open the dining room door where the inside was decorated with a golf theme. “Hey guys,” she started to say to the men that were hanging the various golf clubs on the ceiling. They collectively groaned fully knowing what she was about to say. “I’m sorry, really really sorry,” Lorelai apologized as the workers realized that client had changed his mind, yet again.

“Here’s an idea, it’s a retirement party, yes?” Michel begun to brainstorm. “Ok, so what happens after you retire? You die,” Michel continued to propose as the two made their way out of the dining room.

“He changed his mind,” Lorelai told Lane who was stringing golf balls on a string as they passed by.

“Again,” Lane sighed.

“So why don’t we dig a big hole, throw him in, hand everyone a shovel. They can take turns covering him up. We go inside, have dinner. The wife gets used to eating alone,” Michel finished his suggestion.

“We are not going to bury him alive,” Lorelai shot down his idea.

“Fine, then. What is the new theme?” he impatiently asked.

“He’s calling me back at 4:00,” Lorelai said calmly, hoping the rage of anger she was feeling would soon pass.

“I got the flags,” Rory walked into the inn with her hands full of golf flags. “And he changed his mind again,” she concluded as she saw the staff taking down the decorations.

“He is worse than my mother at the Glory of Easter T-Shirt stand,” Lane added before she left.

“You kept the receipts, I hope,” Lorelai told Rory.

“Yup,” Rory nodded as she made her way over the couch.

“Good god, this party’s going to be the death of me.” She said dramatically.

“Of someone,” Michel added as he passed by.

“Go called the florist,” Lorelai yelled after him.

“You’re stressed,” Rory pointed out.

“You’re observant.”

“Well I was going to save this for later, but you look like you need it now.” Rory took out and envelope.

“Oh, what’s that?” Lorelai curiously sat down on the couch next to her daughter.

“I have been cordially invited to Sherry Tinsdale’s C-section,” she announced.

Lorelai gasped, “No way!”

“Friday, February 7th, 6:00 pm. ‘Join the girls for a toast, a hug, and a wave to the mommy as they wheel her off. Dinner at Sushi Sushi and then back to the hospital for a formal viewing of brand-new baby, Georgia. R.S.V.P at your convenience. PS: Gifts are not necessary, but always appreciated,’” Rory read the invitation to her.

Lorelai’s mouth hung open. “I-I don’t even know where to start first,” she said.

“I knew you would like it.”

“You have to R.S.V.P to a C-Section,” Lorelai pointed out, amused.

“And bring a gift!” Rory added.

“I wonder if Laura Mercier makes Demerol.”

“You want to keep it?” Rory offered as she offered the envelop to her.

“Oh yeah, please.”

“Ok, but don’t lose it, I need the phone number.”

“So, are you going?” Lorelai inquired.

“Well, I don’t know. I mean I know it’s weird, but I kind of want to see Georgia. She is sort of my sister,” Rory admitted.

“She’s more than that.”

“I just think it’d be cool to meet her the night she’s born. It’s a good story to talk about.”

“You should go,” Lorelai encouraged.

**-X-**


	8. A Bug?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Also, I don’t know how meetings with lawyers go. So just go with it, please. Some dialogue borrowed from 3x13 Dear Emily and Richard.

         That Friday afternoon Lorelai received a call from Rory telling her that she was taking a train to Boston because Sherry was in labor. Therefore, she needed to get out of Friday night dinner. Lorelai had already excused herself from dinner tonight because of an “important meeting at the inn”. Emily shared her disdain for Rory skipping Friday night dinner to see the “other woman” have a baby and ultimately for having neither daughter or granddaughter’s company tonight.

         But that wasn’t the worst part of her day. In fact, her entire day had been off. A few days ago, she had woken up with a stomach bug. She was fine the next day, so she assumed she had recovered. She was wrong. The bug was back again this morning with vengeance. It seemed to be gone by noon but came back very soon after she reached the inn. She couldn’t go back home. The retirement party was tomorrow, and the inn was hardly ready for it. Lorelai went to work excusing herself frequently for a meeting with her new best friend for the day, the white porcelain toilet.

         Sookie was concerned and demanded that she go home. Being her stubborn self, Lorelai remained at the inn until nearly 6pm, the time she agreed to meet Luke at the diner.

_-Diner-_

     “Coffee, coffee, coffee! I am having a crappy day and I’ll be damned if I’m denied a cup of coffee and who am I saying this all to?” Lorelai asked to no one in particular when she noticed Luke wasn’t behind the counter.

          “I heard you,” Kirk who was sitting at the counter replied.

          “That’s great, Kirk. Now how fresh is that pot of coffee?” she asked him.

          “I don’t know it’s been sitting here since I’ve been here, of course that has only been a minute,” Kirk told her.

          “Where’s Luke? LUCAS!” she shouted through the diner as she made her way behind the counter.

          “He went upstairs,” Kirk informed her.

          “Thank you,” she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee and headed upstairs. She knocked on the door as she pushed open the door. “Luke, there is something wrong with your coffee. It- oh sorry!” She came face to face with a bare-chested Luke standing in front of the closet. “I’m just gonna-uh-just-uh-um-,” she stuttered but remained rooted in her spot.

          “Lorelai!” Luke yelped. “You can’t just walk into someone’s apartment!” He covered himself with the shirt he was holding.

          “Jeez, Luke there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Lorelai told him, still staring at him.

          “Turn around!” He told her.

          “Why? I’m not technically looking at something I shouldn’t be. Besides I have already seen it, remember,” she pointed out.

          “Just do it, please,” he pleaded.

          “May I remind you that I have seen you swimming at the lake,” Lorelai did what she was told, but continued to make her point. “Plus, I am your wife. I have the right to see that whenever I want. Muhaha!”

          “Aww jeez,” Luke said, now clad in a much nicer shirt than flannel would ever be. “Come on now. We don’t want to be late,” he said while he put his hands on her shoulders ushering her out the door as he followed behind her.

          She resisted and turned around to face him. “First, I demand to know what is wrong with your coffee,” Lorelai complained.

          “There’s nothing wrong with my coffee. I made it the same way as I always do. Maybe Caesar made this batch,” he explained.

          “Probably,” she muttered.

           Suddenly, her face turned a hue of green and she went silent, concentrating on her breathing.

          “Lorelai, are you feeling ok? You don’t look so good,” Luke asked with concern, noticing the change in the color of her face.

          “Jee, that is what every woman in the world wants to hear,” she managed to get out while riding out the wave of nausea.

          “I’m just telling you the truth. You didn’t like the coffee and you look a little pale, well rather green. Your taste buds get off when you are sick,” Luke’s voice full of concern.

          “I’m not sick. I had a little bug this morning, but it’s gone now. Look, I am fine,” she told him as her color returned to her face. “Let’s go.”

          “Ok, let’s go.”

**-X-**

  _-Car-_

          “So, what did you tell your mother tonight to get out of dinner?” Luke curiously asked.

          “That I had an important meeting at the inn,” she revealed.

           “She bought that?” he raised his eyebrow.

          “After a fight, yes,” she smiled.

          “Rory is there alone?” He asked further.

          “Actually, she’s in Boston.”

          “Boston? What is she doing there?”

          “Sherry, Christopher’s girlfriend- fiancée is having her baby today so Rory is over there to see her step-sister fresh from the oven,” she told him with a straight face.

          “Oh.”

          “Yep.”

          It was silent between them with the noise of cars speeding by in the left lane of the freeway being heard.

          Luke cautiously broke the silence, “Do you want to talk about it?”

          “Not really,” Lorelai responded.

          “Ok.”

          A few beats passed by and she asked, “Are we almost there?”

          “Yup.”

          “So,” she said, nervously to fill the void in the air. “we’re ending a marriage,” she stated.

          “Yup.”

          “Monosyllabic, I see what went wrong in our relationship,” Lorelai giggled.

          “This is not funny,” Luke gruffly told her.

          “Whatever,” she shrugged.

          “How did we end up married?” He questioned out loud.

           “I don’t know. I would like to remember, but we were so wasted,” Lorelai recounted.

          “Yeah, I remember the hangover the next day.”

          “Plus, the bang in the morning that we were married,” she added.

          “Yeah, that was some bang,” he agreed.

          “Dirty!” She giggled. “I wonder what my mother would say if she found out I’ve been married for the last month.”

          “I am willing to bet she wouldn’t be too happy,” he told her.

          “She would be doing the Mexican hat dance around the room. I can hear now, ‘Lorelai how irresponsible of you. You don’t even inform me or your father’,” she imitated her mother.

          “And we will make sure she never finds out.”

          “Let’s never speak of this again.”

          “Deal.”

  **-X-**

         “Hello Luke,” Nicole greeted them in her office waiting area, extending her hand to shake both of theirs.

          “Hi, I am Lorelai,” Lorelai introduced herself.

          “Nice to meet you. Let’s just get down to business, shall we,” Nicole told them. “I’m going to take each of you in individually and talk to you. Luke let’s start with you first,” she waved him over as she started walking back into her office.

          Lorelai took a seat in comfortable looking black chair outside in the lobby. She fiddled with her hands nervously. Two minutes went by when suddenly a wave of nausea came over her. She quickly dashed to the bathroom which luckily was in the corner of the lobby closest to her.

          Meanwhile, in the office, Luke was shifting uncomfortably in his seat in front of Nicole’s organized desk.   

          “Ok, so you mean to tell me, you don’t remember how you got married?” Nicole asked

          “Yes,” Luke simply replied.

          “Does Lorelai remember?”

          “Nope.”

          “And you just want to get out the marriage?”

          “Yes.”

          “Any assets acquired in the time you were married that need to be split up? Any joint accounts? Properties?”

          “Nothing.”

          “Was the marriage consummated?”

          “Um, uh,” he stuttered.

          Nicole snickered to herself at his hesitance. “So yes?”

          Luke nodded.

          “Alright. Thank you,” she said, getting up from her seat. “Let me talk to Lorelai and then I can have both of you back in here and we can discuss what your options are.”

  **-X-**

          They walked into the abandoned lobby. Luke turned his head to survey the room, looking for Lorelai.

          “Did she leave?” Nicole asked.

          “I don’t think so, we came together,” he told her.

          “Oh.”

          They heard a flush from the direction of the bathroom and a pale, not- so- good- looking Lorelai walked out.

          “Oh, hey, sorry, I’m just-” she dashed back to into the bathroom before she could finish her thought.

          “Aww jeez!” Luke exclaimed as he followed her in.

          Once inside, he found Lorelai on her knees retching over the toilet. He hesitated for a quick second, but then squatted down beside her. He gathered her hair and pulled in back away from her face while he gently rubbed circles around her back.

          “You ok?” Luke asked her as she wiped her mouth and flushed the toilet. She leaned against the wall for support.

          “The bug’s back,” she said hoarsely.

          “Obviously, it is not a bug,” he firmly told her.

          “I’m fine.”  
         “No, you’re not. You’ve been looking green for a few days.”

         “Luke, it’s ok, I’ll live. It’ll be gone tomorrow. It’s nothing to worry about,” she started to get up from the questionably clean floor.

         “Fine,” he said getting up from his crouch.

         “Just give me a sec,” she told him as she grasped both sides of sink with her hands and took a deep breath, her head hanging low.

         “I’ll be outside. Nicole is ready to see you, by the way,” he informed her.

         “Ok, thank you,” she turned to tell him as he left.

         “Is she ok?” Nicole asked when she saw Luke return.

         “Yeah, she says she’s fine. She’ll be out in a minute.”

         “Ok, great. I will be waiting inside,” Nicole said as she turned back to walk to her office.

         About five minutes later, Lorelai walked out of the bathroom and into the office. She gave Luke a nod before and headed inside.

         “Hi,” Lorelai said as she walked in the office, a clearly fake smile plastered across her face. She reached across her desk to shake hands with the skinny red-haired lady.

         “Hello, Lorelai. Are you feeling better? Please sit.” Nicole asked politely.

         Lorelai sat down and began, “I’m sorry, I’ve been a little under the weather past few days and-” she was interrupted by her cell phone going off. She quickly shuffled through her purse to find her cell phone. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. It’s my daughter,” she told her as she got up from her seat and headed back out the office while answering the phone.

         Rory?” she answered.

          “Mom! They are giving me gloves!”

         After she got off the phone with Rory, Lorelai rushed back into Nicole’s office. “I know I have been doing a lot of apologizing tonight, but I’m sorry to cut this so short. I have to go help my daughter with something.”

          “Oh, ok.”

          “Really, thank you for your time. I promise we will reschedule,” Lorelai said in a huff and left the

          “What’s wrong?” Luke asked when Lorelai came back so soon with a determined expression on her face.

          “I have to go to Boston,” she informed him.

          “Rory called?” Luke guessed.

          “Yes, she asked me to come because she’s there all alone. Chris isn’t there, and neither are any of Sherry’s friends. She is there all by herself and she is freaking out,” she said while she finished shrugging off her coat on.

          “Ok, I’ll drive you.”

**-X-**

**TBC**


	9. A Problem That is NOT Global Warming

** Chapter 9- A Problem That is NOT Global Warming **

          Luke and Lorelai reached Boston Memorial in record time. Now they were looking around for Rory and Sherry’s room in the maze of hospital hallways.

          Lorelai walked to the nurses’ station and asked, “Sherry Tinsdale’s room?”

          “That way,” the nurse pointed to the direction of the room and went back to reading the chart she had in her hand.

          “Thank you.”

          They started to walk to the room when Rory came out with a handful of papers.

          “Hi mom. Hey Luke,” she hastily said.

          “Hey, where are you going?” Lorelai asked.

          “I need to find a fax machine,” Rory states as if it was completely normal.

          “And what exactly is Sherry doing, Hun?” she asked her daughter.

          “Squatting.”

          “What?”

          “She said Maureen told her that it keeps the baby in,” Rory expanded.

          “Does that work?” Luke questioned.

          “I did hear that on Howard Stern,” Lorelai pointed out.

          “Well, if Howard said so, then it must be true,” Luke sarcastically replied.

          “Great conditional,” Rory complimented.

          Luke’s brow furrowed, “Huh?”

          “It’s math, I was reviewing it on the train earlier,” Rory explained.

          “Oh.”

          The three walked a little further down the hall. As they neared Sherry’s room, they heard her on the phone, “Yes, I’m having them faxed now.”

          “I’ll wait out here,” Luke volunteered, realizing he had no desire to see a woman actively in the process of having a child.

          “Ok,” Lorelai agreed, and the girls went in.

          “Lorelai, I’m so glad you’re here!” Sherry exclaimed.

  **-X-**

          After many trips to the bathroom for Lorelai between coaching Sherry through her labor pains, Christopher showed up. Luke was in the waiting area reading the latest Sports Illustrated magazine. He saw Christopher rush in, ask for Sherry, and run into the room.

          An exhausted Lorelai and Rory walked back to him and collapsed on the chair near him.

          “That woman is so argh!” Lorelai said referring to Sherry.

          “How’s she going to raise a kid? Let alone with Dad?” Rory questioned.

          Lorelai closed her eyes and a took a few deep breaths.

          “Are you feeling any better?” Luke asked.

          “Not really. I believe Sherry made it worst,” Lorelai admitted as she weakly rested her head on Luke’s shoulder.

          “I think you should get checked out,” Luke advised her

          “No, that’s o-” Lorelai began to protest, but was cut off when Rory spoke up.

          “Mom, I agree with Luke,” she told her mother.

          “I’m fine,” she said.

          “That’s it! You are getting checked out. I can take you downstairs to the emergency room,” Luke got up from his chair, pulling Lorelai up with him.

           “Mom listen to your husband,” Rory demanded, teasingly.

          “Please don’t remind me. It’s making me more nauseous,” Lorelai complained.

          “Come on,” Luke waited for her to follow him towards the elevator.

          “Fine, jeez I never knew you can be so bossy. Oh dirty!” Lorelai gasped with a little giggle as she followed Luke, leaving Rory to settle in waiting room chairs.

  **-X-**

          “Ok, Lorelai, I am going to run some test from the blood we drew early and get back to you. It’ll take about 20-40 minutes,” the doctor told her.

          “Ok, we,” she gestured between her and Luke, “are actually here because a friend is having a baby upstairs and he,” she pointed to Luke, “insisted I get checked out,” Lorelai shared.

          Lorelai told the hospital that Luke was her husband, which wasn’t exactly false, to allow him to come inside the exam room with her.

          “Oh, how nice. Your vitals were normal, you tolerated the fluids we gave you earlier, and you haven’t had a bout of nausea and vomiting in 3 hours, correct?” the doctor confirmed.

          “Correct,” Lorelai replied.

          “Alright then, I’ll have the nurse give you some anti-nausea medication as needed while we wait for the test results, then you can be back on your way to be with your friends,” the doctor told her.

          “Great, thank you, doctor,” Luke replied.

          “Please do come back to the ER if it gets worse, but we should have the test results soon. I am actually off of my shift soon. I can head up to the maternity wing with the test results if you like.”

          “Oh, that would be great! Thank you,” Lorelai said as the doctor left the room. She waited a beat before asking, “What if I’m dying?”

          “You are not dying,” Luke rolled his eyes.

          “How do you know?” She asked as she got off the exam table pulling her coat on.

          “Because the doctor wouldn’t have told us to go, if you were dying,” Luke told her as a matter of factly.

          “They are still waiting for the test result,” Lorelai pointed out.

          “Can we not have this conversation again?” Luke begged as he pulled opened the door to leave the exam room.

          Lorelai stopped walking, turned towards Luke, putting her hand on his upper left arm, and asked, “Will you take care of Rory if I die?”

          “You are not dying,” he told her and continued walking out into the hallway and the busy ER towards the main lobby.

          “Name your mix of coffee after me,” Lorelai suggested.

          “You are not dying,” he sternly said.

          “Oh! A fashion designs! I see you are wearing a ‘Lorelai’, Oooo la I like it,” she continued, teasingly.

          “Stop it!” Luke told her, realizing she was joking.

  **-X-**

          An hour had passed, and the doctor still hadn’t come up to share the results of Lorelai’s tests. Perhaps no news was good news. At this point, Rory was sleeping on the waiting room chairs with her head on Lorelai’s lap and Lorelai’s long wool coat draped across her like a blanket. Lorelai had drifted to sleep on Luke’s shoulder. Currently, Luke was engrossed in a newspaper article discussing the upcoming season for the Red Sox, too anxious to sleep.

          “Mr. Danes,” the doctor from the ER came up to him.

          “Oh, hello,” he said, sitting up straight, but careful to not wake Lorelai.

          “Well I guess congratulation is in order,” the doctor told him.

          “What?” He blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he was awake.

          “Your wife is just fine, she’s pregnant,” he revealed, handing him some paperwork.

          “What? Are you sure you are talking about Lorelai?” He blinked a few more times again.

          “Yes, the blood test is quite accurate. Her bouts of nausea and vomiting episodes are all consistent with morning sickness. Based on what she described, she is probably about 4 weeks along and due around September 23rd.”

          “Ok, uh, thanks,” Luke managed to get out as shock overtook his body.

          “I recommend following up with an obstetrician who can take it from there. Congratulation again!” The doctor said and then walked away.

          “Oh boy!” he shifted in his seat and looked to Lorelai, then to her currently small midsection. At least Lorelai was alright.

  **-X-**

          Another hour passed as Christopher emerged from the delivery room. He saw the threesome sleeping in the chairs.

          “Hey Lor,” he nudged her awake.

          “Um, go away,” she sleepily said, snuggling further into the crook of Luke’s neck.

          “Lor, get up,” Christopher attempted again.  

          “What? Oh,” she said as got up, waking Luke in the process.

          “Oh man, Lor in my wildest dreams, I never could’ve imagined it!” he excitingly told her. “I’ve never been that nervous or terrified or nauseous in my entire life. It was like the most amazing thing ever in the world,” Christopher yammered on, as Lorelai smiled.

          “I know,” she told him. She glanced over at Luke who an anxious and nervous look written all over his face.  

          “Come on, come look. We’ll wake Rory later,” Christopher said while reaching for her hand.

          “You know what, it’s been a long night. Why don’t you wake Rory and show her? Sherry is good?”

          “Sherry was great!” he beamed.

          “Rory,” Lorelai gently said as she rubbed her daughter’s shoulder to wake her.

          Rory stirred, opening her eyes and asked, “is she here yet?”

          “Yes, and she is excited to meet her sister,” Christopher told her.

          Rory got up from her mother’s lap and joined her father to meet her new sister.

          After the two walked away, Lorelai turned to Luke and asked, “so am I dying because that look on your face is very concerning.”

          “No, we kind of have a bigger problem,” he told her.

          “Is it global warming? Deforestation? Ozone depletion? The war in Iraq?” she began to list.

          “Could you shut up, so I can tell you?”

          “Jeez, sorry. It’s what I do,” she told him.

          “The doctor said you were perfectly alright.”

          “Ok good, so I can say this ‘problem’ is on Al and his mystery Moroccan food I had a few days ago.”

          “Uh, no. Here,” he handed her the piece of paper he must have read over a hundred times since the doctor handed it to him.

          “What’s this?”

          “Read it please,” he told her. He watched her eyes follow the words neatly typed up on the paper. He saw them widen.

          She took a deep breath before she started, “so I am pregnant.”

          “You are pregnant,” he concurred.

          “Are you sure?”

          “You have the evidence in your hand. So, I’d say pretty sure” he pointed.

          Lorelai sat down in the chair closest to her. “Pretty sure is not sure!” she argued.

          “What would you I rather say, ‘ugly sure’?”

          “Would you rather be a bullfrog?” she randomly asked.

           Not taking the bait for a distraction he responded, “then your baby would be half bullfrog.”

          “How do you know it’s your baby? We did it like once,” she pointed out.

          “He told me that you are around 4 weeks along and due September 23rd based on what you told him.”

          “What I told him- oh. Four weeks, so that means…”

          “Yup.”

          “Oh.”

          “Uhm.”

          “We can deal with this later. First let’s get out of here. We need to find Rory,” she told him as she pulled Luke in the direction that Rory and Christopher had gone off to.

  **-X-**

          Lorelai stood looking into the nursery deep in thought. It reminded her of when she was looking at Rory over 18 years ago. But now, she also had a different thought.

          Her hand slowly made it to rest on her abdomen. She looked down, then back at the nursery. In 8 months, she’ll probably be looking out in there again.

          Luke came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked backed and placed her own hand on top of his.

          “Are we ready for this?” Lorelai asked Luke.

          “Well life throws fast balls. You have to be ready.”

          “Ok. So, I’m- we are going to have a baby.”

         He echoed, “We are going to have a baby,” a small smile appeared on his face.

**-X-**


	10. Chapter 10- Because You’re so Smooth

** Chapter 10- Because You’re so Smooth **

  _-One Month Ago-_

           The bell above the diner rang as Lorelai walked in. It was the first Friday of the New Year. Friday, of course, meant Friday night dinner.

           “Coffee in a vat,” she spoke dully as she took a seat at the center stool at the counter.

           “Not a good dinner?” Luke asked, knowingly from behind the counter.

           “With Emily playing _Love Connection_ , well you can make that connection,” she sighed.

           “She set you up?” he asked.

           “Yes, again,” she said as she rested her elbows on the counter and rested her head on her hands.

           “Wow,” he said.

           “First it was Chase, the vampire guy. That was two years ago. Today it was Phillip, the I-Am-So Boring-I’ll-Make-You-Want-To-Poke-An-Eye-Out guy.”

           “Tough night,” he poured coffee into a cup for her.

           “So naturally, I tell her to stop setting me up especially in front of Rory. Instead, she turned around and threw it in my face that I could have been happily married right now to Christopher. I told her that it wouldn’t have worked out and then she started.” In her best Emily voice, she imitated, “‘ _Oh Lorelai for god’s sake, you are 34 years old with no husband, no boyfriend, working at an inn all day. You should be ashamed of yourself.’_ Well at least I’m not divorce and fat.”

           “Fat?” he questioned with one raised eyebrow.

           “Give me a break,” she took a sip of her coffee.

           “Ok, fine carry on,” he picked up his rag and started to wipe down the counter in front of him.

           “My mother thinks I am pathetic. She wants me to get married. I don’t want to right now! And what’s wrong with running an inn? I get to plan weddings and parties, how is that different than being the corporate wife that she is? The summary of night is that I am 34, with a daughter, not married, no prospects, and I run an inn. Life’s great, isn’t it?” She drained the rest of her coffee. “Got anything stronger than coffee?” she lifted her head up and asked.

           “It’s a diner. Taylor won’t allow alcohol in an establishment like this without a license. I do have beer upstairs,” he offered.

           “That’ll do…for now,” she got up and walked towards the curtain to head upstairs. “Coming?”

           “Ok, fine.” Luke shut the lights and led her upstairs.

           “Where’s Jess?” She asked as she sat down on the couch.

           Luke was by the fridge where he was pushing things inside aside to pull out a 12 pack of beer. “Surprisingly, his mother called so he’s with her for the weekend. He’ll be back before tomorrow night,” he told her.

           “It’s good his mom called him.”

           “Yeah at least we are hearing from her,” he said as he opened the bottle of beer and handed it to her.  

           She took a long swig. “That’s good,” she pointed out.

  **-X-**

_-1.5 hours later-_

           “We need more,” Lorelai whined. Luke and Lorelai were both sitting on the couch. Luke had his feet up on the coffee table and Lorelai had her feet tuck under her, almost sitting on her knees while leaning on Luke for support.

           “I had 12 bottles! Where did they all go?” Luke asked her.

           “Well, I had 9 and you had 10, so guess that’s 12,” Lorelai deduced while holding up her 8 fingers on her hands to show him his math.

           “You,” he pointed at her, “you’re right,” Luke agreed while patting her twice on her thigh closest to him.

           “So where do we go to get more?” she asked him, sliding her legs out from under her so she was sitting somewhat properly on the couch now.

           “Bar?” He suggested.

           “We are too drunk to drive,” she concluded.

           “We have to think.”

           “Oh, then think. I’ll wait. Don’t take too long, I may start to sober up.”

           Luke nodded as silence fell between them. A minute passed before Luke said, “Hmm, maybe we can fly to the bar.”

           “We don’t have wings,” Lorelai pointed out.

           “Well, ostriches have wings. And they can’t fly. So, if we don’t have wings maybe we can fly.”

           “But how?”

           “I don’t know, jump out the window?” Luke suggested.

           “I may be drunk, but I am not that drunk,” Lorelai told him.

           “Oh, then we need another plan,” he said.

           “Why can’t you have more liquor around?”

           “Because I live with my teenaged nephew.”

           “Something tells me that even before then you didn’t have anything besides beer.”

           “Hey, I like beer and you just drank all my beer!” Luke pointed out while reaching out and pressing a finger to her nose quickly.

           “No, you let me drink all your beer. It was good beer,” Lorelai copied his actions.

           “A cab!” he suddenly exclaimed.

           “What?” Lorelai pulled her hand away from his face.

           “We can call a cab!” Luke explained to her.

           “Good thinking, Butch,” she gave him a slap on the arm.

           “Shut up, Sissy and don’t hit me,” he rubbed the spot on the arm she had assaulted.

           “Call the cab place-thingy,” she demanded.

           “No, you call,” he said.

           “No, you,” Lorelai countered.

           “Why should I call?” Luke argued.

           “Because…”

           “Ha! Not a good reason.”

           “Ok then, why should I call?”

           “Well for one you could flirt with anyone and get a lower price, plus it was my idea so you should have to call to make it fair,” he pointed out for her.

           “Well you do have a mighty fine point. I’ll call,” she agreed.   

  **-X-**

  _-Bar-_

           “I am way past drunk,” Luke slurred. They had ended up somewhere in Hartford as it never occurred to them to go to KC’s that was a short walk right in town. The two barely sat on stools at bar where Lorelai had insisted on doing some shots at first. Luke was able to talk her into some strong drinks instead.

           “Why did we get drunk?” Lorelai suddenly asked.

           “I don’t know,” Luke said with a sigh, placing his now empty glass down on the bar top.

           “I don’t remember,” she admitted. “Oh well, who cares? Another round?” She offered.

           “Sure.”

           “Hey, you, guy with the liquor who is also my new best friend, another round please and thank you,” she called to the bartender.

           Luke stared at her with amazement in his eyes. “You know you are very sexy, just sitting there?” Luke put his hand on her thigh.

           Taken back slightly, a smile rose across her lips and she asked, “Are you hitting on me?”

           “I might be,” he said, not breaking his eye contact.

           “I believe you are,” she told him as the bartender placed their drinks in front of them.

           “Then, I am,” he replied as he picked up the glass and took a sip. His hand now rubbing little circles on her thigh.

           “Smooth,” she said as she also took a sip of her drink.

           “Is it working?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

           “Maybe,” she flirted back by twirling her hair. “Ok fine, it is working. Now Luke, tell me what works for you?” she placed her hand on top of his, turned it around so his palm was facing up. She lighted raked her finger nails back and forth his palm.

           “Hmm,” he moaned. “You,” he answered as he fingers closed around her hand.

           “Once again, smooth,” she giggled.

           “I try,” he admitted. “Is it working?”

           “It sure is,” she assured him, leaning in closer to him.

           He took her cue and leaned in. “Great, it is working for me too,” he whispered.

           “Drunk Luke is very chatty,” Lorelai pointed out and then leaned away.

           “Really, are you having the fun you wanted?” he asked her, changing from his flirtation tone to a more causal one.

           She took a gulp of her drink before she said, “Hey, do you hear me complaining?”

           “Good.”

           “Oh, I just remembered why I’m here and why we are drunk,” she randomly said.

           “Really, why?” Luke cocked his head to side trying to remember.

           “I’m not married,” she sighed.

          “Why is that a problem? I like the fact that you are not married,” he said and then finished off his drink.

           “Emily Gilmore.”

           “I can help solve that,” he offered while he signaled the bartender for another drink.

           “How? I need to find a husband. That requires a man which I am fresh out of.”

           “Hello, I am a man,” he pointed to himself.

           “So?”

           “I am a man,” He stressed more, but her face remained puzzled. “I AM A MAN! What don’t you get?” he grew frustrated.

           “I’m drunk and there are two of you. Oh, I know! I can marry you!” she excitingly shared her solution.

           “DUH! I’ve been trying to explain that to you for the last million minutes!”

           “Why didn’t you say so?” she asked.

           “DOH!” He slapped a hand to his forehead.

           “What?”

           “I did tell you.”

           Her forehead furrowed, “Really when?”

           “Wait, did I?” He doubted himself as the conversation and the alcohol mix clouded his mind.

           “I don’t know. Anyway, let’s get married,” she stated.

           “Where?” He asked.

           “I saw a chapel down the street. Is this fate or what?” She excitedly bounced off her seat and began to gather her things.  

           “No, actually it is because I’m so smooth,” he told her has he began to put his coat on.

           “That you are. Come on. Let’s go to get hitched.”

**-X-**

           They had walked down a small aisle and promised to take care of each other. With the simple signing of papers, they were husband and wife.

  _-Cab-_

           “So, we are married now. You know what that means?” Lorelai hinted to Luke.

           “Do we join bank accounts, change last names?” Luke guessed.

           “No, no, no silly. I never knew my husband could be so dumb,” she told him as she playfully poked at the middle of his forehead.

           “What do you mean?” Luke asked, drunk and confused.

           “I’ll give you a clue, Mr. Gilmore. You do it mostly at night,” she moved closer to him placing a hand on her chest.

           “Is it couples bowling, Mrs. Danes?” he put an arm around her.

           “No, let me give you another, much better clue,” she whispered and blew into his ear then kissed his cheek.

           “Oh, I get it. We can go fishing or go camping-” she cut him off.

           “Luke, shut up,” she said before she kissed him square and hard on the mouth.

**-X-**

           They stumbled upstairs to the apartment above the diner. At the same time, ripping each other’s clothes off step by step. First to go where their coats, followed by Luke’s shirt then Lorelai’s sweater. The door pushed violently open, banging against the wall. Luke pushed Lorelai against the door, claiming her lips with his. Her moans urged him to continued as he grinded against her hip. She reciprocated back. He broke away about from her lips, trailing his lips to her cheek and down to her neck. Lorelai’s hands tangled in his hair, the baseball cap knocked away somewhere on their way up to the apartment. Pulling away from the door, Luke kissed and held on to Lorelai as he reached out one hand to shut the door. He pulled away and looked into her eyes. There was no doubt in the connection between them, the heat in her eyes matching the one she saw in his. He lifted her up and Lorelai’s leg wrapped around his hips. He kissed her again, and clumsily carried her over to the bed. She giggled and moaned in satisfaction as they both collapsed on to the bed.

  **-X-**

  _-Next Morning-_

            "AHHHHHHHHHH!" Lorelai screamed wrapping the bedsheet around her, breaking away from the embrace she was enveloped in.

            "Urghhhhhhhh," her scream woke up the man resulting in him echoing her scream in form of a grunt. "What the hell?! Why are you so loud?" he grumbled.

            "Look at us!" Lorelai exclaimed, causing him to sit up in bed, suddenly aware that he wasn't dressed.

             "I, a, I don't remember anything," he stammered when he noticed Lorelai too wasn't dressed.

             "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

             "I'm sure nothing happened," he brushed off.

              "Nothing happened?! Luke, we are both sitting in your bed with absolutely no clothes on!"

**-X-**

**TBC**


	11. You’ll Make A Great Dad

** Chapter 11- You’ll Make A Great Dad **

 

_-Way Back from Hospital-_

 

          The three were piled on the bench in Luke’s truck, Rory was half asleep, the other two were wide awake as Luke drove them back to Stars Hollow.

 

          “Rory?” Lorelai called.

 

          “Yeah,” she answered sleepily.

 

          She took a deep breath, “I’m pregnant.”

 

          “Hmmm.”

 

          “Rory? Did you hear mommy?” Lorelai asked, unsure if her daughter heard her.

 

          “Huh?” she said still half asleep.

 

          “Sweetie, can you wake up for two seconds?” Lorelai rubbed her daughter’s shoulders.

 

          “Ok. Fine I am up,” Rory said as she rubbed her eyes awake. “What? Wait, did you say you are pregnant?” her eyes widen.

 

          “Yes,” Lorelai simply replied making brief eye contact with Luke who remained silence.

 

          “Oh my god, how? I mean I know how, but when, who?” she asked in a frazzle.

 

          “One month ago,” Lorelai revealed.

 

          “One month ago? I was with you around Christmas,” Rory remembered.

 

          “It was after that, the night I didn’t come home.”

 

          “You mean the night you and Luke supposedly got married?” No one said anything. “Oh my god, it’s Luke! Luke got you pregnant!” she exclaimed and then her face contorted in slight disgust. “No offense.”

 

          “Well, yeah,” Lorelai carried off.

 

          “It’s true. Isn’t it?” She turned to Luke. He nodded in response still looking straight ahead. “This is great! I’m ecstatic! I always wanted a little brother or sister.”

 

          “You literally just got a sister,” she pointed out.

 

          “Yeah, but that is different. I get to see this one grow up.”

 

          “Sweets, you know this probably means Europe is canceled. I’ll be in my third trimester.”

 

          “I figured, but who cares, we can go some other time. The baby can come. I don’t know what I am missing,” Rory told her empathetically.

 

          A watery smile formed on Lorelai’s face and she said, “thank you for being so understanding.” Rory returned the smile.

 

          “Aww, I am so happy!” Rory continued to gush. “So Luke, you are going to be a dad.”

 

          “Joy to the world,” he spoke sarcastically.

 

          Rory looked at Lorelai and she gave a sympathetic look.

 

**-X-**

 

 

Around 5:30 am the next morning, Lorelai woke up and rushed to the bathroom.

 

          “This kid is definitely Luke’s,” she groaned to herself and threw her head into the toilet as the wave of nausea passed through her.

 

          It took her about an hour until she was able to find herself back into her bedroom. She picked up the phone and dialed a number that she knew by heart.

 

          “Hello?” Luke answered the diner’s phone, pulling its cord to allow him to start taking the stools off the counter.

 

          “This kid doesn’t resemble my being,” she grumbled.

 

          “Who the hell is this?” he asked. He was exhausted from the previous late, world wind of a night.

 

          “What that hell do you mean ‘who the hell is this’? It’s Lorelai, remember, your wife, the woman whom you impregnated? The woman who is now up at 5 friggin’ 30 to puke her guts out while you stand there, deny me coffee, and go ‘ha-ha, I totally banged her’.”

 

          Luke fought the urge to smile hearing her rant. Instead he admitted, “If it helps, I don’t remember the whole banging part.”

 

          “No, it doesn’t.”

 

          “Maybe it wasn’t that good,” he teasingly said.

 

          “Hello, this is me you are talking about? It was probably great! I totally rocked your world!” She told him as she made herself comfortable on her bed.

 

          “Are you having those mood swings like they show on TV?” Luke changed the subject.

 

          Lorelai’s face fell and she said, “I know you can’t see me, but I hope you know I’m giving you a very dirty look right now.”

 

          “It’s a mood swing.” The line was quiet. “So…”

 

          “That’s all I called for. See ya later,” she hung up.

 

          Luke looked at the phone, shook his head and put it down.

 

          _‘It is going to be a long 8 months and then 18 years of jam hands,’_ he thought.

 

**-X-**

 

_-Diner-_

 

          “Coffee please,” Lorelai asked as she took a seat at the counter.

 

          Luke leaned in and told her, “No.”

         

          “C’mon, have a heart,” Lorelai pleaded.

 

          “No, how about herbal tea?” he countered.

 

          “Does it taste like coffee?” She asked.

 

          “No, but I can try,” he offered.

 

          “Really?” her eyes filled with hope.

 

          “Nope,” he told her.

 

          Lorelai scowled. “Mean!”

 

          “I have other important customer.” Luke started to walk away from the counter.

 

          “You have Kirk sitting at a table for four. Kirk is not VIP.”

 

          “Hey!” Kirk protested.

 

          “Sorry Kirk, I’m just trying to get some coffee. You know I had coffee at the inn,” she smirked.

 

          “Crap, I should have told Sookie not to give you any,” he said realizing she had a loophole.

 

          “What are you going to tell her?” She countered.

 

          “Umm…” He tried to think quickly, but not quick enough.

 

          “Ha! I win!” she threw her hands up in the air.

         

          “Well, we are going to have to tell the town. They are going to know sooner or later,” Luke pointed out in a softer voice, so Kirk didn’t hear.

         

          “Oh, you mean when I get fat,” Lorelai blatantly announced.

 

          “You’re not going to get fat,” his voice turned to a whisper, “there’s just a baby in your stomach.” He tried to make her understand.

 

          “Technically, there’s not a baby, but a _fetus_ in my _uterus_ , not stomach.”

 

          “Potato, Po-tah-to,” he brushed off.

 

          “There’s a difference and it’s in the form of pain,” she pointed out.

 

          “No coffee,” he firmly told her walking away to take Kirk’s order.

 

**-X-**

 

         

          ”Luke’s,” Luke answered the phone later that afternoon.

 

          “Hi Luke, it’s Nicole Leahy from the law firm,” he heard the lady announce.

 

          “Oh hi,” he said he pulled the phone into the kitchen.

 

          “I just wanted to tell you that I’m drawing up the papers for the divorce. I should have them ready and mailed to you in about two weeks.”

 

          “Ok, great,” he mumbled into the receiver.

 

          “Do you need me to contact Lorelai as well?” Nicole offered.

 

          “No, I can tell her that,” he told her

 

          “Ok, then. I expect to hear back for you as soon as the papers are fine.”

 

          “Will do. Thanks, bye.” He sighed and went back to work.

 

**-X-**

 

          Rory and Jess were sitting on the bench in the park in the town square. Rory was reading while Jess was kissing her neck.

 

          “Jess, I’m reading,” Rory told him as she pulled away from him.

 

          “So am I,” Jess told her and then continued.

 

          “No, you are kissing my neck,” she stated.

 

          “Fine I’ll stop,” he pulled away, reluctantly.

 

          “Good boy,” she put the book down and turned slight to face him. “Did you hear, mom and Luke are having a baby?” she asked.

 

          Jess shifted uncomfortable. “Don’t they move fast.”

 

          “They didn’t plan on it,” Rory shared.

 

          “I figured.”

 

          “Just making sure.”

 

          “So, I’m going have a new cousin,” Jess said.

 

          “Yup,” she agreed.

 

          “I bet Luke is freaking out,” Jess pointed out, knowingly.

 

          “He wasn’t doing a happy dance last night,” Rory confirmed.

 

          “He will make a great dad though,” he said.

 

          Rory’s eye widened, “Really? Coming from you?”

 

          Jess looked down and said, “Well, I am not the best example. I was already screwed up when I got here.”

 

          “You should tell him that,” Rory encouraged.

 

          “I think he knows I’m screwed up,” Jess said with a smirk.

         

          “Jess,” she shot him a look.

 

          “You think he’ll listen to me?” he asked.

         

          “I really think he will,” she admitted.

         

**-X-**

 

_-Later That Night-_

 

          Jess walked into the apartment after his last shifted.

 

          “Glad you decided to show up,” Luke said, taking sip of water dressed in his sweats for bed.

 

          “I hear you knocked up Lorelai,” he blatantly said. “You really do have Ross as your Idol. He pined for Rachel for years, married her, then made her cook his bun in her oven.”

 

          “How do you know that?” Luke asked, putting his now empty glass in the sink.

 

          “I watch _Friends_. It gives me a good laugh once in a while,” Jess revealed as he made his way to his corner of the apartment.

 

          “Jess,” the older man sternly warned as he made his way to his bed.

 

          “Rory told me,” Jess shared.

 

          “Ok, well goodnight,” Luke said, climbing into bed.

 

          “You’ll make a great Dad,” he said before he turned away from him and went to bed

 

          Luke’s face gaped open in shock.

 

**-X-**


	12. I'll Always Be Around

** Chapter 12- I’ll Always Be Around **

_-Friday Night Dinner, Few Weeks Later-_

          “You know it’s weird when mention something a lot and then you stop all of a sudden,” Emily casually said, bringing up the fact that Rory hadn’t mention Dean for about 6 weeks.

         “Then I guess I should tell you I am seeing someone else too,” Rory admitted.

         “Who?” Emily asked.

         “Um, Jess.”

         “Jess?” Emily questioned with a raised eyebrow.

         “Luke’s nephew.”

         “The boy who crashed your car? Lorelai how can you let this happen?” Emily turned to Lorelai and said, disapprovingly. Lorelai frowned and shrugged her shoulders.

         “Well, I want to meet him. Just bring Jess over for dinner one night. How about next Friday?” Emily proposed.

          “Oh, I don't know,” Rory unconvincingly said, not wanting Jess to go through what Dean had to last year. She shot her mom a worried look.

          “Oh yeah Mom, that might be hard to arrange on short notice,” Lorelai added to help her daughter.

          “It’s perfect timing. Richard will still be out of town, so it’ll just be us girls,” Emily explained.

          "He works Fridays, doesn't he?” Lorelai pointed out, trying to help Rory.

          “Yeah, that his usual night. Friday night. It's a bad night,” Rory went along.

          “Oh, ok. Perhaps I'll meet him some day. Perhaps at Rory's graduation. That's good. That way we'll all meet him at once. Myself, Richard, Gran and maybe even some of my D.A.R. friends and the reverend” Emily countered.

          “You know what Grandma, now that I think about it, I think Jess does have next Friday night off,” Rory caved.

  **-X-**

          “You know you should bring Luke next week too and tell them about the baby,” Rory suggested while the two were on their way back to from Friday night dinner.

          “No, Rory I can’t tell them,” Lorelai told her.

          “You have to tell them before you tell the town,” Rory pointed out.

          “I can’t do that. Luke and I, we haven’t even discussed anything yet. I haven’t been to the doctor’s and I know he doesn’t want a baby. But, then sometimes, he’s so sweet and protective. I don’t know! I need to figure out how I feel about having to raise another baby.”

          “It’ll be ok,” she reassured her.

          “Well, at least I didn’t get pregnant out of wedlock this time,” Lorelai pointed out.

         “Oh, you have to tell them about that too,” Rory reminded.

         “You mean my sham marriage to Luke?” Lorelai animatedly raised her eyebrows. “That is totally a decision obviously made because we were both drunk. Yeah, that’ll make Emily and Richard proud of their daughter.”

         “Ok, leave that part out. You two are divorcing anyway.”

         “How am I supposed to explain that? I mean they will surely find out somehow, they always do.”

          “Um, tell them you have been married for a year and it wasn’t working out,” Rory suggested.

          “One question?”

          “What?”

          “Why didn’t I tell them?”

          “We’ll come up with something less complicated,” Rory assured, unconvincingly.

**-X-**

  _-Luke’s the Next Day-_

          “We need to talk,” Lorelai stormed in the diner, pointed to Luke and headed in the direction of the curtain leading upstairs.

          “Can it wait, I’m working?” Luke asked as he threw his infamous rag on the counter and walked in the same direction.  

          “No, it can’t wait. Upstairs now!” she demanded.

          “Jeez,” Luke mumbled under his breath and disappeared behind the curtain.

          “Get used to it,” she grabbed him by his arm and pulled him upstairs. She pushed the door open quietly and Rory and Jess who were horizontal on the couch broke apart, startled.

          “Oh, I’m- I’m sorry,” Lorelai barely got out as she stopped dead in her tracks

          “I’ll just get going,” Jess said and walked passed them. “Talk to you later,” he called out to Rory before he left.

          “Hold up,” she got up and followed him downstairs.

          “Did you know they were up here?” Lorelai questioned Luke.

          “Yes, they eventually come up for some air. I come up every ten minutes with some excuse to get something. ‘Oops, I forgot this. Oh, I need this’,” he explained.

          “Every ten minutes?” Lorelai clarified.

          “Like clock-work,” he reassured her.

          She cocked her head to the side as if she was thinking and said, “Ten minutes, yup that’s exactly how long it took to create Rory and that includes freshening my lipstick.”

          “Why did you pull me up here?” He ignored her bait to rile him up.

          “We need to talk. We need to talk about the whole us getting married, the divorce, and this baby,” she pointed to her stomach.

          “Ok,” he said and put his hands on his hips.

         “So, are we going to through with the divorce?” she asked, bluntly.

         “Nicole called and said the papers will be mailed to me in the next few weeks,” Luke shared.

         “Ok, well how much is this costing us? I know divorces are expensive. I want to help out,” she offered.

         “Don’t worry about it. I have it covered,” he told her.

         “Luke,” she grabbed his hand.

         “I said don’t worry,” he remained stern on his answer and put his free hand on top of her hand.

         “Ok, subject dropped.”

        “Good, look I’m sorry if I came off bad on this whole thing. I know I say I don’t like kids,” Luke said, dropping her hand and walked over to his bedroom area. He went over to his dresser and pulled out a small thin box.

        “‘Drop another sucker-’,” Lorelai started, reminding him of what he started to say before.

        “Stop, I know what I said. Here.” He handed her the box.

        She opened it to reveal a light-yellow onesie that said, “My daddy loves me.” She pulled it out of the box and held it out to examine.

        “Luke,” she softly said, her voice barely audible as tears brimmed in her eyes. She brought the little piece of fabric to her chest and held it there.

       “Lorelai, I can’t wait to be a dad. Holding a little baby that made from a bit of me and a bit of you, that depends on me and you. I want that. I want to be a part of that and I’m not going to have you do it alone. If you want us to stay married, fine. If you don’t, fine. It doesn’t matter because I’ll always be around.”

       Teary eyed, she asked, “But what about bodily fluids, diapers, midnight feedings?”

       He chuckled, “Lord help me, I want it all,” he told her.

       “You’re incredible,” she said and leaned in to hug him. After she pulled away, she paused for a second to take a deep breath and gather herself together. “I have to tell my parents,” she told him.

       “Give me the day and the time and I’ll be there,” he told her and smiled.

       “Thank you,” she whispered as he gathered her in his arms again and held her close to him.

**-X-**

  _-Next Friday-_

          Two Gilmore Girls, a Mariano and a Danes stood outside the very intimidating Gilmore Mansion.

          “Are we going to go in or wait for Casper to open the door?” Jess asked.

          “Ok, before we go in,” Lorelai began, “I must warn you two. My mother is scary. My father can be intimidating. Luckily for you, you only have to deal with one of them tonight.”

          Rory interrupted her mother by ringing the doorbell.

          “Rory!” Lorelai whined.

          “Chill, Mom. It’ll be fine,” the girl told her.

         “Not when I have to refuse alcohol for the second time, my mother will know-” she was interrupted the second time with Emily opening the door. “Hi Mom,” she greeted.

          “Lorelai, Rory come in. I assume you are Jess. Nice to see you again Luke. Please come in,” Emily politely invited.

         “Hello, Mrs. Gilmore,” Jess said to be polite.

          “Nice to see you too,” Luke said.

          “Well anyway, come in, come in,” Lorelai totally knew her mother had her fake hosting face on.

          “Richard they are here,” Emily yelled as the four walked into the foyer.

          “I thought Dad was away,” Lorelai stated.

          “He canceled,” Emily said, shortly.

          “Oh.”

          Richard appeared and greeted, “Hello girls, Luke and I guess you are Jess,” he shook the older man’s hand first then the young man’s.

          “Hey Dad.”

          “Hi Grandpa.”

          “Nice to see you again Mr. Gilmore,” Luke said when the two shook hands.

          “Hello,” Jess greeted when it was his turn to shake hands.

          The group moved to the family room. Rory took a seat on the love seat and Jess occupied seat next to her. Luke and Lorelai took up residence on the larger sofa. Emily sat in the chair while Richard made his way to the drink cart.

          “So Jess, what are your hobbies?” Richard asked fixed his drink first.

           “Um, nothing much,” he modestly answered.

          “He likes to read, Grandpa,” Rory interjected.

          “Really? I didn’t know a boy in this day and age fancies reading. Tell me, what genre or authors interests you?” Richard quickly abandoned making his drink and made his way over to the younger couple. Emily got up and went over to the drink cart in his place while Richard took her seat.

          “So…” Lorelai stretched, trying to do something about the silence between the other three.

          “Drinks,” Emily interrupted. “Lorelai, I assume you want a martini and Luke, what would you like?”

          “Actually mom, I’m not in a martini kind of mood. How about a club soda?”

          Emily paused for a second and looked at Lorelai and cautiously responded, “Ok and Luke?” She turned back to the cart.

          “I’ll have the same thing,” Luke replied.

          Emily made a displeased face and then announced, “Ok, four club sodas coming up.”

          “Emily this boy is a genius. Rory, I approve,” Richard said after discussing something both Jess and he had read.

          “That great, Richard. Here’s your drink,” she handed him his scotch.

          “Thank you, Emily.” He a sip and quickly went back to his conversation with Rory and Jess.

          “So Lorelai, how long have you and Luke been dating?” Emily asked taking a seat next to on the sofa.

          “Actually, that’s what we came here for. Dad, can you and Jess take a break for like two minutes.”

          “Yes, what is it Lorelai?” Richard asked.

          “I- I, um, I- I’m pr-,” she took a deep breath to help gather herself. She felt Luke’s hand grab hers.  

          “Spit it out already,” Emily grew impatient.

          Lorelai let out a breath, “I’m pregnant.”

          “Oh,” Richard said.

          “I believe you know where the door is? Since that’s what you do,” Emily said getting up from her seat.

          “What?” Lorelai was confused.

          “Why did you even bother to tell us anyway? You are just going to run away, because you know how I feel about this. Don’t you learn from your mistakes?” Emily angrily told and answered her.

          Lorelai remained quiet.

          “Grandma,” Rory said and followed her.

          “Rosetta, put dinner away. We are not eating tonight,” Emily told the maid.

          “Emily, let the girl stay,” Richard pleaded after seeing the defeated look on Lorelai’s face.

          “I suppose you are not going to get married again. I mean you and the diner man are having a baby,” Emily continued.

          “His name is Luke and he is sitting right here,” Lorelai answered back, finally finding her fight.

          “Mrs. Gilmore, we have everything under con-” Luke began.

           “We are already married,” Lorelai cut Luke off.

          “What?” Emily turned around to look at her daughter.

          “Luke and I have been married for a month and that is about how far along I am.” Lorelai revealed.

          “You got married and you didn’t care to invite us?”

          “Geez I wonder why? Rory wasn’t there either,” she shared.

          “This is completely irresponsible. Did you even tell Rory you were married?” Emily asked.

          Once again that night, Lorelai found herself silent.

          “Emily please leave the poor girl alone,” Richard chimed in.

          “How can you be so calm about it? Richard, she didn’t even tell us. She didn’t even invite us to her own wedding.”

          “I didn’t tell you because I knew that this would be the way you act,” Lorelai yelled back.

          Rory, Jess and Luke watched uncomfortably.

          “Excuse me, can I say something?” Luke calmly, but loudly asked, trying to keep his cool.

          “Yes,” Lorelai answered.

          “Sure, why not? What more could you say? You sit there like a mute,” Emily harshly said.

          “Mom! You cannot say something like that. You don’t even know him,” Lorelai argued.

          “Let’s change the subject shall we,” Richard suggested.

          “So Grandpa, what do you think about the world?” Rory tried to help Richard.

          “I think the world is a beautiful place that should be taken care of. How about you Jess?” He replied.

          “I don’t know,” Jess replied still interested in Emily and Lorelai’s screaming match on the other side of the room.

          “OK, STOP!” Luke’s voice boomed throughout the room causing the two women to stop yelling.  “Mrs. Gilmore you have absolutely nothing to worry about and all this screaming is for nothing and it is definitely not good for the baby!”

          “So you are just concerned about the baby?” Emily bluntly asked.

          “Mom, it was not planned and Luke is right, this is pointless, considering we are getting a divorce,” Lorelai revealed causing Richard, Rory and Jess turned their heads.

          “I can’t believe she told them,” Rory told Jess.

         “Na, I saw it coming,” Jess told her.

          “Papers are being drawn up as we speak. We know that this was a mistake and I knew you would not approve,” Lorelai explained.

          “Lorelai you can’t do that now!” Emily exclaimed.

          “Why the hell not?” She asked, frustrated on her face.

          “Because you are pregnant. Do you want this child to go through what Rory did?” Emily pointed out.

          “It won’t have to,” Luke said standing up and walking over to Lorelai, “because unlike Christopher, I will _always_ be around,” he firmly told them.

          “How do you know? Will you put your child first or your diner?” Emily bluntly asked, again.

          “Yes, like with me you totally put me first. Take your own advice,” Lorelai angrily spat back.

          “What is that supposed to mean?” Emily yelled.

          “Hey now, I don’t think-” Luke tried to intervene, but failed when Lorelai cut him off.

          “It means that I was never first! Keeping up your appearance and society were more important. I was taken care of by 68 different nannies. Do you know why I didn’t get along with the nannies? Because I wanted my mother to take care of me. I know Luke will take care of the baby whether we are together or not,” she explained, with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

          “Grandma, mom is right,” Rory spoke up. “Luke took care of me. He let me sit at his diner and take up two maybe three tables during the dinner rush so I could do my homework when mom was working so we could buy a house and couldn’t leave me alone. He even came to my pet caterpillar’s funeral.”

          “You let her keep a caterpillar?” Emily asked Lorelai.

          “Arrggh!” Lorelai let out, frustrated and started walking towards the door.

          “See, she’s leaving. This is what she always does,” Emily turned to Richard and said before she stomped upstairs.  

          Rory silently followed her mother. Luke looked at Richard glumly.

          “Richard, it was really nice talking to you,” Jess stated as he followed Rory.

          “The feeling is mutual. Maybe the three of us could get together at sometimes,” Richard told him.

         “That would be great, Mr. Gilmore.”

          “Nice to see you again, Mr. Gilmore,” Luke politely said as he passed by the older man to catch up to Lorelai who was mostly already in the car, Rory and Jess.

          Richard stopped him, “I believe in you, don’t let Emily scare you.”

          “Thank you.”

          “Here, take this,” he handed Luke an envelope.

          “I can’t take this,” Luke said as he held the envelope back to him.

          “It’s for the baby. I can’t wait for another grandchild that I can spoil rotten,” he admitted with excitement in his voice.

          “Thank you, again,” Luke thanked him and left.

  **-X-**

         Luke came out and got into the back seat when he noticed that Rory in the driver’s seat and Jess was in the front seat next to her. Lorelai was sitting in the back, her head against the window staring outside with tears brimming in her eyes. He slid in next to her. He reached out for her hand. She hesitated before letting him have it. Slowly, she turned her head to let it rest on his shoulder. Luke brought his other hand to her head and gently stroked it, back and forth.

        “Shhh, don’t let her get to you.” He felt the tears soak into his shirt.

        “How can she be so horrible?” she rhetorically asked.

        “At least you have a mom who can yell at you,” he pointed out.

       “Do you want mine?” she offered with a rueful chuckle.

       Luke let out a small snicker, “I think I’ll pass.”

       She flashed a small smile and he smiled back at her.

  **-X-**

**TBC!**


	13. What's Best for You

** Chapter 13- What’s Best for You **

          “Taylor, I promise you that everything will be set for the reunion,” Lorelai reassured Taylor trying to fight off the wave of nausea coming over here.

          “Have we gone over the room arrangement again? We Doose’s are very-”

          “Hang on a second, I’ll be right back,” Lorelai ran into the direction of the bathroom.

          Luke saw her running over there and he waited a few second before following her. Lorelai was now almost two months along and was facing morning sickness on daily basis. She would try to push through it as much as she could, trying all the tips that were out there like keeping her stomach full, but for a couple hours she would be nauseous.

          “Lorelai?” He walked into the bathroom. He saw Lorelai sitting on the floor in one of the stalls.

          “I hate this,” she said as she wiped her mouth on a piece of toilet paper. “The smell of coffee doesn’t agree with this baby at all.”

          “Don’t worry it’ll pass, and you will be able to tolerate it again,” he reassured her.

          “Like in another seven months,” she pointed out.

          “C’mon, you have Taylor waiting. Are you ok now?” he rubbed her back gently.

          “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute and please try to get rid of Taylor,” she told him, getting up off the ground.

          “I’ll do my best,” he said before he left.

          “Hey Luke, would you like a button? You know the hockey game is tomorrow. I expect to see you there since you enjoy sports,” Taylor greeted Luke when he came back out to the diner.

          “I don’t want a button, Taylor” he told him back and went behind the counter. “Hey, you two break it up,” he separated Rory and Jess, who were making out at the counter.

          “Don’t worry, Uncle Luke. We’ll be careful. You should set a better example,” Jess smartly remarked.

          “I believe Caesar needs your help,” he looked him in the eye and said.

          “I’ll call you later.”

          “Ok.”

**-X-**

          “Mom, this is dumb, come to dinner. It’ll be a quick one. I have a date with Jess,” Rory said, while gathering her stuff for Friday night dinner.

         “I don’t think so,” Lorelai was sitting on the couch in sweats flipping channels on the TV.  
         “Come on,” Rory begged.

         “No, my mother does not accept this so no, I’m not going,” she stated.

         “Grandpa is ok with it,” Rory pointed out.

          “I know, and I’m thrilled that he is.”

         “So, come see Grandpa,” she suggested as she put on her shoes.

          “I don’t think so, Hun,” she pondered.

          “Fine, I should be home early, call me if Jess calls. He told me he would.”

          “Ok, have fun with Emily Gilmore, the World’s Best Mother,” she sarcastically told her daughter.

          “Fine. Hey, you never told me how your talk with Luke went,” Rory reminded as she started putting items in her purse.

          “Oh, about that,” Lorelai got up from her comfortable spot and walked over to the hall closet. She picked up a box and brought it over to Rory. “He gave me this.”

          Rory opened the box to see the onesie.

          “Awe, this is so cute. He picked this out himself?” Lorelai nodded. “It’s yellow so it would work for a girl or a boy, how thoughtful of him.”

          “I know, he said no matter what he will be here.”

          “Aww,” Rory gushed some more.

          “Stop going ‘aww’,” Lorelai imitated.

          “I can’t help it. Luke is such a softie. I have to leave. Grandma will throw a fit if I’m late.”

          “No, that’s only if I’m late. Not you, the golden child,” Lorelai dramatically told her, taking her seat on the couch.

          “Oh stop,” she closed the door behind here.

  **-X-**

_-Gilmore Mansion-_

         Emily opened the door and Rory walked in.

          “Rory hello,” She greeted.

          “Hello, Grandma,” Rory spoke coldly.

          “Where’s your mother?”

          “At home,” she said shortly.

          “I see. Is she running late?” Emily inquired.

          “Emily, Trix is on the phone again,” Richard announced from another part of the house.

          “Ugh! That woman. Come on in, the maid can get you a drink. That woman is going to drive me an early death,” she muttered under her breath as she walked away from the foyer.

          Rory handed her coat to the maid and made her way to the great room.

          “Felicity, get my granddaughter a drink,” Emily instructed the maid.

          “Right away Mrs. Gilmore,” The maid hurried off as well as Emily went to the den. Richard came out of the room and greeted Rory who was now sitting on the sofa.

          “Rory, hello.”

          “Hi Grandpa.”

          “How are you? How’s school? How is that boyfriend of yours?” he asked as he made his way over to the drink cart, the maid nowhere to be in sight.

          “I am great, school is the same and Jess is great,” she answered all of his questions.

          “That is good. Club soda?” he asked.

          “Oh, yes please.”

          “How is your mother?” he further inquired while handing her her drink.

          “Very stubborn,” she answered honestly.

          “Well, that is indeed your mother. And the baby?”

          “It’s good.”

          “It’s a house not a hotel, there will always be food,” Emily came back mumbling.

          “Emily, a drink?” Richard asked his wife, recognizing the stress on her face as a result of his mother.

          “A martini please.”

  **-X-**

_-Diner-_

          Lorelai walked in and took a seat at her stool at the counter.

          “What no dinner tonight?” Luke asked as he walked over with a coffee pot.

          “I refuse to go less than one mile within that house,” Lorelai told him.

          “You can’t avoid them forever,” Luke pointed out.

          “I will if I want,” she stubbornly told him.

          “You’ll eventually change your mind.”

          “Hmm, not very likely. So, it’s a pretty slow night,” she observed as she surveyed the diner.

          “Yeah, I mean it’s Friday and there aren’t many people here today.”

          “The town must be at Al’s.”

          “Yeah, I heard from Kirk that he is having ‘People’s Demand’.”

          “Oh, they are probably all demanding Luke’s burgers right now, because I know I want my Luke’s burger,” she told him with a smile.

          “Turkey burger with tomatoes, lettuce, and low-fat cheese coming up,” Luke said quickly and left to go to the kitchen.

          “Hey! That’s not fair!” she began to protest. “I am pregnant with your child and this child wants a double cheese burger with full fat cheese! Oh, don’t forget the curly fries!”

          “Not a chance,” he told her from the kitchen.

          “I was going to name this baby Luke, but I guess that is not an option anymore,” she pretended to sulk.

          “Good, I don’t want my baby to be named after me,” he told her.

          “Ahh, why not? He can be your mini me dressed in the flannel shirt, blue jeans and backwards baseball cap?”

          “No.”

          “Party pooper!”

          “Coffee Junkie!”

          “Flannel-wearer!”

          “Hair Flipper!”

          “Health eater!”

          “Ahh…”

          “Gotcha! I win!” Lorelai threw her hands up in the air and cheered.

  **-X-**

  _-Miss Patty’s-_

          “Ok, this secret town meeting is now in session. First on the agenda we have the goings on between the Innkeeper, Lorelai Gilmore, and the diner owner, Luke Danes,” Taylor announced and banged his gravel.

          “Love is in the air,” Miss Patty interrupted in a singsong voice.

          “Patty, do not interrupt me.”

          “Sorry Taylor,” Miss Patty lamely apologized.

          “Anyway, we all know something has been going on. Lorelai has been at the diner 4 to 5 times a day and few weeks ago, they were talking to a lawyer,” Taylor shared in a scandalous tone.

          “Why would they be talking to a lawyer?” Kirk asked.

          “Maybe Lorelai is finally buying an inn?” Babette suggested.

          “Aww, who will take over the Independence?” Miss Patty inquired, disappointedly.

          “If Lorelai is buying an inn then why was Luke there?” Andrew questioned.

          “Has anyone noticed that Lorelai’s clothes are getting tighter?” Gypsy threw in the pool of ideas.

          “Yeah, Suga, I noticed she was trying to wear loose sweatshirts,” Babette pointed out.

          “Well, it has been a cold winter,” Andrew said, the rest of the town agreeing with him.

          “People, people, people, ORDER!” Taylor yelled. The room became suddenly silent and Kirk’s hand was raised. “Yes, Kirk.”

          “I heard that Lorelai took Luke to Friday night dinner with her parents last week. They came back upset.”

          “Thank you, Kirk for this information. I also know that Luke was talking to my lawyer about getting papers for an annulment,” Taylor further shared.

          “That’s funny. Luke is not married,” Miss Patty laughed as she said.

          “Unless….” Taylor’s voice trailed off.

          “Unless what Taylor?” Babette questioned.

          “Unless, Luke and Lorelai are married,” he stated.

          The crowd busted out into laughter.

          “How is that possible? Luke and Lorelai are not dating let alone married,” Gypsy said, trying to contain her laughter.

          “Yeah, Taylor she’s right,” Miss Patty pointed out.

          “The earth better be off its axis if that happened,” Babette chimed in.

          “What if they have been dating and they didn’t tell us because they wanted to keep the information away from Lorelai’s parents because they knew that they wouldn’t approve and were afraid that someone in the town will pass on the information to her parents?” Kirk suggested and the crowd grew silent.

         “That is a possibility,” Taylor told them after a moment of contemplation.

         “Well, one of us is just going to have to demand the truth,” Kirk determined.

         “1,2,3” Miss Patty counted.

         “NOT IT!” the whole crowd, but Kirk yelled.

         “HEY, that’s not fair! No one said we were going to do that,” he protested.

         “Stop whining, Kirk,” Gypsy told him.

         “Kirk will be responsible for asking Luke or Lorelai for the truth. Meeting adjured,” Taylor summarized as he banged his gavel to end the meeting.  

**-X-**

 

_-Next Morning-_

          Lorelai came downstairs to see her daughter sleeping on the couch just like she has been the night before.

          “Honey, get up?” Lorelai shook Rory’s shoulder, lightly.

          “Whaaat?” she said waking up from her sleep.

          “Have you been there all night?” Lorelai asked.

          “Night? I fell asleep. Aww man, I was waiting for Jess to call me,” she said as she sat up right.

          “By the sound of that I guess he didn’t call?” Lorelai took a seat at the other end of the couch.

          “I guess not.”

          “You waited all night for him to call and it didn’t occur to you to call him instead?”

          “He told me he would call. It’s his job. I didn’t want him to think I was waiting by the phone for him,” she explained.

          “You _were_ waiting for him by the phone,” Lorelai repeated.

          “Yeah, I know, but I don’t want him to know that.”

          “So, what are you going to do?”

          “Luke’s?” Rory suggested.

          Lorelai raised her eyebrows in confusion. “You still want to go to Luke’s?”

          “Yeah, I’m hungry.”

          “After all this, you want to go to Luke’s?” Lorelai asked to clarify.

          “Yeah, I mean he is my little brother or sister’s daddy,” Rory pointed out.

          Lorelai rolled her eyes. “I love how you always find some way to bring that up.”

          “What can I say? It’s a fact that I love to keep mentioning because I still have a hard time believing in it.”

          “Well, honey it’s true. Your mommy did the horizontal nasty with the world’s best coffee provider and a mini latte is brewing in my belly now,” she joked.

          “Ew, didn’t need the gory details,” Rory said while making a disgusted face. She stood up from the couch and said, “I am going to go get ready and then we are going to go to Luke’s.”

  **-X-**

_-Inn, Next Day-_

          “Lorelai, I just wanted to-” Taylor called out to Lorelai who standing in front of the check-in desk.

          “Hold on Taylor, what is this?” Taylor’s brother asked him, pointing at a piece of paper.

          “Oh, that is just the itinerary for the afternoon. I thought Lorelai could post it incase other guests wanted to join us in our pre-game activities. Lorelai, this is my older brother Doug. Doug, this is Lorelai,” Taylor introduced.

          “Hello,” Lorelai politely greeted.

          “Hello.” Doug quickly responded and then got back to Taylor. “Taylor, I told you on the phone that no one is gonna want to do any of this crap. A tour of Stars Hollow? Most of us were born here! What do we need a tour for?” He turned to face the crowded lobby filled with many members of the Doose clan and announced, “Everyone listen up. We are meeting down here in two hours for the vans. If you’re late, you’re walking.” He crumpled up the itinerary and gave it back to Taylor. “Go back to you store and count pennies or something. I’m taking a nap.” He walked away.

         Lorelai patted Taylor on the back and walked towards the desk. She began sorting through the mail when she heard a familiar voice.

         “Lorelai, hello,” Emily Gilmore’s voice rang out as she approached the desk.

         She saw her mother coming over, “Mom? What are you doing here?”

          “Well, you didn’t come to dinner,” she reminded her.

          “I know I didn’t come to dinner,” she firmly stated, mentally preparing herself for another battle with Emily.

          “I just thought I would drop by and…” she trailed off as she thought about something to say.

          “And what mom?” Lorelai impatiently asked.

          “And, and- “

          “Are we playing Charades? I have a big reunion party going on and I’m not feeling well, but I’m still here and you being here is not helping,” she told her.

          “Fine, don’t let me keep you,” Emily began to walk away.

          “Mom…” Lorelai called as she made her way around the desk. “What’s up?” her voice full of concern when Emily didn’t pick a fight with her.

          “I’m not allowed to go home,” she revealed.

          “What?” Lorelai was confused.

          “She’s banished me from my own house,” Emily explained some more.

          Lorelai corrected the dots and asked, “Gran?”

          Emily nodded and continued, “She’s gone mad. This morning she announces that she is holding a meeting for her Bitter Old Biddies Club at our house tonight and she needs an entire day to prepare for it because the house is in such shambles,” Emily cried.

          “Oh subtle,” Lorelai nodded sardonically, enjoying her mother’s displeasure.

          “Then I was handed a list of chores, asked not to come home at least until six because I will simply be in the way.”

          Lorelai couldn’t help but crack a small smile on her face. “Mom, she is only staying for a few days.”

          “I have to buy her flowers because mine are too tall. It’s ostentatious to have flowers that tall,” Emily complained.

          “Actually, I’ve been meaning to tell you that myself,” she joked and quickly decided against sticking with it when she saw her mother’s disdained look. “Mom, you have to chill out. Look, you pretty much do the same thing to me.”

          “I do not do such a thing,” she argued.

          “You pass judgment on everything I do. You disapprove of absolutely everything I have. This baby,” she spoke quieter and pointed to her stomach, “you disapprove of, but nothing can be done about that now. I’m not sixteen anymore, you cannot tell me what to do.”

         Emily looked like she was about to break down. Lorelai looked at her mother and softened her face.

         “Mom?”

         “I am sorry. I am sorry for anything I have said that has hurt you. I am sorry that you feel I disapprove. I just want what is best for you,” she tried to stop her tears.

         “Mom, sit down,” she ushered her over the empty sofa and took a seat next to her. “I know you want the best for me. I want the best for Rory that is why we get into fights. Gran will be gone in a few days. She just wants what’s best for dad.”

         “Your father is never home anymore. I have to spend the whole day with that woman sent by the devil. Lorelai, I’m sorry. Please don’t keep this child from us like you did with Rory. I am happy to be grandmother to another child. A boy, preferably.”

         “Now that is not up to me, but a little boy would be nice.”

**-X-**

         “Ok, get out of the house,” Lorelai told Rory as she was getting ready to go over to her parent’s house to deliver some items including a slide projected requested by her mother. She saw Rory once again on the couch with her laptop open.

          “Excuse me?” Rory was appalled.

          “Get out of the house,” Lorelai said slower for emphasis.

          “Why?”

          “Why? Look at the clock, what does it say?”

          “It says six o’clock,” she stated.

          “So, it is six o’clock on a Saturday night. Which means you have spent a day and a half waiting for him to call.”

          “I know,” Rory said, sadly.

          “That’s not good, kid,” Lorelai pointed out as she sat down on the couch arm. “Look, let’s say he does call. You can’t be the kind of girl that gets all mad in her head and then forgets everything once he deigns to show up, right?”

          “Yeah,” Rory gave in.

          “Okay, don’t just sit there waiting. Go out. Do something,” Lorelai encouraged as she went back to gathering everything she needed to take to Hartford.

          “Like what?”

          “What is Lane doing tonight?”

          “She’s going to the hockey game with her fake boyfriend,” Rory told her.

          “Perfect!” Lorelai exclaimed.

          “Perfect? It’s a hockey game. You know how we Gilmore’s are with sporting events,” Rory pointed out.

          “It’ll be fun. There will be cheerleaders and clowns and people doing the wave,” she said, unconvincingly, clearly guessing.

          “You have no idea what a hockey game is do you?” Rory pointed out.

          “Hello, we are Gilmore’s! It doesn’t matter anyway. Put on a jacket and go. If he calls-”

          “Who cares!”

           “That’s my girl!” Lorelai encouraged with a fake smile on her face to hide her concern.

**-X-**

          Rory and Lane went to the hockey game with Young Chu. In the meantime, Lorelai was on her way over to her childhood home. Before Lorelai rang the doorbell, Emily opened the door and pulled her inside the house, hushing her to remain quiet.

          “I saw her kissing a man in a purple jogging suit!” Emily exclaimed in a whisper, unable to contain her joy.

          “What?” Lorelai responded, not knowing what she heard or how to respond.

          After her mother explained the situation with Gran and after she calmed her mother down, Lorelai went inside to meet her grandmother.

          “Ladies look who’s here,” Emily announced walking into the great room.

          “Lorelai, wonderful. We all need a break for a moment. Come meet my friends,” Gran invited her granddaughter. “Emily, we were waiting for iced tea or am I imagining things?”

          “It’s on its way, Mom,” she said pleasantly.

          “So is death,” Gran remarked, sarcastically. Gran introduced Lorelai to the rest of women sitting in the room. “Come, sit.”

          “No, I don’t want to interrupt anything,” Lorelai hesitated.

          “You are interrupting nothing but thirst my dear. You look different, but well. You gained some more weight. You better watch yourself,” Gran noticed and advised.

          Lorelai didn’t know how to respond. She pleasantly nodded with a small smile.

          “Well, I’m sure it’s just some stress. We Gilmores need to be doing something to keep ourselves busy, if not too much,” Gran concluded.

          The women chatted for a while. Emily and Lorelai excused themselves to check on the Richard arrived home from the office and joined them.

          “Hello ladies,” he took a seat in a chair nearby.

          “Oh, Richard is it normal for you coming home this late?” One of the women asked.

          “Oh, it’s one of the pitfalls of starting your own business,” Richard stated.

          “You should say, ‘of starting a successful business’ Richard,” Grand corrected.

          Lorelai and Emily rejoined them.

          “Successful so far, Trix. Let’s not jinx it. Oh Lorelai, how are you?” He asked when he saw his daughter after a couple weeks of absence.

          “I’m great, Dad,” Lorelai replied.

          “And the baby?” Richard inquired, not realizing Gran was not in on the new family news.

          “It’s fine too,” she quickly responded, ready to move on to the next subject.

           “Lorelai, you are pregnant? And you didn’t even think to tell your grandmother? I suppose that was Emily’s idea,” Grand assumed.

          “No mom, I did no such thing,” Emily immediately defensed herself.

          “Are you married?” one of the women asked.

          “In fact, I am,” Lorelai replied honestly.

          “Really Lorelai? This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Gran told her, clearly appalled.

          “It was very small and a spur of the moment kind of thing,” Lorelai explained.

          “I would like to meet this man who wants to start a family with you so quickly.”

**-X-**

**TBC**

**Author's Note:**

> TBC! Next chapter will be posted soon! I appreciated your time and your comments! Thanks!


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